Even though Friday was the official start to spring, severe weather season across the U.S. typically ramps up much earlier. This year, however, has been quiet. Extremely quiet. In fact, we're on track to see the quietest start to the year we've ever recorded. That's probably going to change pretty soon.
Forecasters did a good job predicting Friday's snow, with some communities clocking in on the higher end of the forecasts. Central Park saw three inches, Philadelphia recorded four, an inch fell in Baltimore, and D.C. only saw a dusting. The big winner was Freehold, New Jersey, with 7.2 inches of snow.
The droning wail of a tornado siren is ubiquitous in the southern and central parts of the United States. These loud sirens are meant to warn people who are outdoors that a tornado is on its way. Now that we're indoors or in a car for most of our lives, tornado sirens are all but useless, yet we keep wasting money on them.
Forecasters have growing confidence that it's going to snow tomorrow in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Some cities from Pennsylvania to Long Island could see five or more inches of snow by the time it's over on Friday night. Oh, and tomorrow is the first day of spring. Nature has a twisted sense of humor.
Beaches are a relaxing place to spend a family trip or just enjoy a raging, booze-fueled spring break. While a trip to the ocean can be packed with fun, it can also be dangerous. Aside from sunburns and jellyfish, one of the most dangerous things you have to look out for is a silent, sloshing killer: rip currents.
It was downright gorgeous across the United States and Canada earlier this week. Dozens of towns from Texas to Saskatchewan set record highs during the brief warm-up. Unfortunately, March's gotta act like March, and we've slumped back into that weird winter pattern of a warm west and cool east.
Few things will earn you a nastier, contemptuous snarl from a Very Serious Scientist than using that lowly, scum-based Fahrenheit scale for measuring air temperature. "Celsius is the proper form of measurement," they haughtily trumpet, "because everyone else uses it." Everyone else is wrong.
A burst of heavy snow this afternoon nudged Boston over the threshold the city needed to break its all-time snowfall record. The airport reported 2.9 inches of snow at 7:00 PM EDT, bringing the seasonal total to 108.6 inches, or one inch above the previous all-time record set in 1995-1996. Snowfall records in Boston date back to 1936.
The world is on edge this afternoon as we await news from Vanuatu's capital city of Port Vila to see how they fared the wrath of Severe Cyclone Pam. The storm had estimated winds of 165 MPH as its eyewall brushed the capital island's 66,000 inhabitants on Friday around 9:00 AM EDT.
The thing about March is that it lures you in with springlike temperatures, chirping birds, bumbling bees, and just when you start to let down your guard—WHAM!—you get smacked with a winter storm. It happens almost every year, but I am so sorry to say that it's probably going to snow this weekend.
An intensifying tropical cyclone in the southwestern Pacific Ocean will pose a grave threat to Vanuatu on Friday night. The cyclone could pack winds of 165 MPH when its eye brushes the country's capital of Port Vila, located about 1,200 miles northeast of Brisbane, Australia.
Verizon FiOS unceremoniously dumped The Weather Channel from its cable lineup this morning, opting to provide subscribers with AccuWeather's new 24/7 weather network in lieu of the Atlanta-based weather behemoth. The move comes a year after the network went through an ugly public brawl with DirecTV.
An architecture firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has an idea that would make their home city's skyline the most unique in the country, all while paying homage to the land where the wind comes sweeping down the plain: an awesome, tornado-shaped tower. I want to go to there.
Don't forget to set your clocks forward by one hour before you go to bed on Saturday night. If you have nowhere to go and no deadlines to meet, set your clock forward around 6PM on Saturday to acclimate yourself a bit. The meaningless tradition continues, and we'll do it all over again in seven months.
We've all moaned and groaned over flights cancelled due to weather. It's maddening to miss your connection (or even your whole trip) because of bad weather, but incidents like today's crash of Delta 1086 in a snowy New York City are exactly why they make that tough call that can affect millions of travelers.
Flooding rains, heavy snow, and dangerous ice are roaring groundward across the middle of the country this afternoon as a juicy series of slow-moving fronts slowly makes its way towards the coast. The disruptive storm could even push Boston to 108 inches of snow, making this the snowiest season ever recorded in the city.
As promised, we have to go through a few more bouts of cold, icy weather before spring finally starts to settle into the country. This week will be an epic battle between cold and warm air, culminating in an ugly winter storm on Wednesday night and Thursday. It's like the weather has the flu: a sudden hot flash today and tomorrow, followed by miserable chills on Thursday and Friday.
It's about time: winter is finally on its way out and warmer temperatures are just around the corner. We still have another week or two of cold weather to get through in the east, but that's amateur hour compared to the past three months. This winter was like a weird, climatic rap feud between east and west.
