One of the cooler results of the NotReallyAPolarVortex sweeping across much of the United States is that it allows us to see just how much of an effect the sun and water have on our weather.

A surveillance camera in a Farmer's Co-Op Store in Pilger, Nebraska caught the terrifying moment that one of the twin EF-4 tornadoes swept through the town last month, demolishing a large part of the building in mere seconds.

The Weather Channel just announced that the network will debut a new weather-themed talk show this weekend called WXGeeks, pronounced "weather geeks." The program is an effort to call back to the channel's legacy, with executives billing the show as aimed at weather enthusiasts.

What do you do when you're the owner of a marginally popular weather page on Facebook, you and your brother have a history of threatening people, and they finally shut down your page? You threaten Facebook, of course!

Parts of eastern Colorado just went under severe thunderstorm watch number 420, and all is right in the world.

A powerful thunderstorm swept through the Siberian capital of Novosibirsk on Saturday, bringing with it huge wind-driven hailstones that pelted surprised and panicked beachgoers. The video is intense, going from relative calm to chaos as the rain and hail sweep over a nearby bridge and onto the crowded beach.

Deadspin covered the fallout from a television station in New York breaking into the last few minutes of the final game of the World Cup for a tornado warning in the station's viewing area. When it comes to severe weather, news stations put viewer safety over programming every time, and people who complain about it deserve to miss their shows.

This tweet from TerpWeather prompted me to post my triannual reminder that the word "lightning" does not have an 'e' in it. Lightning, without an 'e,' is an electrical discharge in a thunderstorm. Lightening is the migration of the uterus towards the vagina in preparation for birth.

LOOK AT IT.

In 2012, meteorologist Rhonda Lee made national headlines after she was fired from her job at a television station in Louisiana for defending herself on Facebook against racist comments about Lee sporting her natural hair. Yesterday, she announced that WeatherNation hired her as an on-air meteorologist.

WeatherNation reports that one woman is dead and seven more were injured in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park due to a lightning strike this afternoon. This is the eighth lightning-related death in the United States so far this year.

When the forecast calls for a 30% chance of rain, it's reasonable to think that the chances of seeing rain are 3 out of 10. But when the forecast calls for a 30% chance of tornadoes, the risk is much higher and much more dangerous. Why is there such a discrepancy between severe weather and rain forecasts?

The world's largest thermometer reopened in Baker, California yesterday, reminding people in the middle of the Mojave Desert that it gets hot in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

This map shows the tracks of all 59,036 recorded tornadoes that touched down in the United States between January 3, 1950 and December 21, 2013. The end result looks like a Jackson Pollock painting.

Heavy rain caused by Tropical Storm Neoguri triggered this intense mudslide in Nagiso, Japan on Wednesday. The video shows a muddy waterfall violently overtaken by an onslaught of trees, mud, and debris. The mudslide destroyed numerous homes and businesses, killing a 12-year-old boy and sending more than 200 people to shelters in the area.

Weeks after The Vane coined the defining term of summer 2014 — SummerPolarVortexmageddon — another huge cool-down is on tap for next week, and everyone is hopping on the "polar vortex" bandwagon. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

88 years ago today, an explosion of almost unbelievable proportions rocked northern New Jersey, killing nearly two dozen people and shaking the military to its core. The cause was neither criminal nor was it an act of war, but rather a single bolt of lightning.

I wrote a piece for the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang detailing the science and legacy behind the National Weather Service's definition of "severe weather," including why the threshold for severe wind is 58 MPH and why the size of severe hail jumped from penny to quarter size in 2010.

After touring damage in central New York left behind by yesterday's strong tornado that killed four people, Governor Andrew Cuomo said "We don't get tornadoes in New York, right? Anyone will tell you that. Well, we do now." Except he's wrong. Really wrong. Really, really wrong.

The Storm Prediction Center's moderate risk for severe weather fell flat today, with most of the severe weather occurring all around the area at highest risk but not much inside of it. Busts happen. They're good for residents but bad for forecaster verification. When it comes to the "crying wolf effect," though, we're actually lucky this kind of bust isn't commonplace.