Three days after landfall and after traveling over more than 850 miles of land, Bill is still a tropical depression as it swirls over Missouri. The storm has produced catastrophic flooding along its path, and more flooding is likely through the Ohio Valley and eventually into the I-95 corridor of the Mid-Atlantic.

The southeast is melting under the influence of an unusually brutal early-season heat wave, with temperatures soaring into the upper 90s and low 100s for four days now. Temperatures will moderate somewhat for a day or two this weekend, but the heat is going to crank back up for most of next week.

As Tropical Depression Bill swirls its way through northern Texas this afternoon, the storm looks more impressive over land than it ever did over the ocean. The storm is still producing very heavy rainfall, and flash flooding is likely as it continues sloshing towards Oklahoma and eventually the Midwest.

Smooth jazz. Green screens. Jim Cantore’s hair was on his head instead of his face. (The beard works for him, though.) Weather all day, every day, without a hint of hype or those ridiculous storm names. It was a successful experiment that raised a generation of scientists and likely saved countless lives. Even people who don’t care about the weather admit that The Weather Channel of the 1990s was the height of television excellence.

Tropical Storm Bill made landfall on Matagorda Island in Texas at 11:45 AM CDT, or 12:45 PM EDT. The storm had 60 MPH sustained winds at landfall. It should start to weaken as it moves farther inland, but the threat for flash flooding is just beginning.

After hours of teetering on the edge, the National Hurricane Center finally took the plunge and declared a swirling mass of thunderstorms in the Gulf of Mexico a tropical storm, the second of the Atlantic hurricane season. The greatest threat with Bill is very heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding.

A major flash flood event could unfold over the next couple of days as what is likely to become Tropical Storm Bill limps its way towards Texas. What the storm lacks in vivacity it will more than make up for in intense rainfall. The storm will produce flooding rains from Houston to New York City, causing major flash flooding in areas that already have more water than they can handle.

Once upon a time, it used to get uncomfortably hot in June. Remember those days? It was just a few years ago, but after last year’s cakewalk they called “summer”, this year’s heat is going to seem downright brutal and unforgiving. A heat wave is cranking up in the southeast right now, and it’s going to get ugly.

The ugly heat and humidity of summer is starting to ramp up, and with it comes some silent risks. It’s a habit for many people to leave their children or pets in the car for just a minute so they can run errands. Do not leave your children or pets in a hot vehicle for any length of time, because they will die.

Just one week after a powerful Hurricane Blanca stared down Cabo San Lucas with the steely gaze of its eye, a burgeoning tropical system in the eastern Pacific could threaten another major tourist destination: Acapulco, Mexico. A newly-developed tropical depression is expected to become a hurricane as it comes dangerously close to the city this weekend.

“It’s dry. Very dry. Oh, God, it’s too dry. It’s raining! Rain! More rain? Ahh, tornado! Whew, back to rain. Too much rain! Make it stop! Ah, sun.” Thus continues the dramatic play that’s been the weather over the central United States for the past few months, with many more inches of rain on the way over the next seven days.

The Arabian Peninsula is beautiful in June—precious little water, vast expanses of nothing, brutal sunshine, and temperatures hot enough to kill you in a few hours. It’s Disney without the high prices! However, nature will break the monotony this week as a tropical cyclone aims for Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Tornadoes are possible in any of the severe thunderstorms that blow across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast this afternoon, with the greatest risk existing across a stretch of land from Virginia to Vermont. Any of the storms that pop-up this afternoon also carry the risk for damaging winds and large hail.

Hurricane Blanca (Blanca, not Bianca, much to the chagrin of drag fans the world over) is still hanging on over the eastern Pacific Ocean as it slowly makes its way towards the Baja Peninsula. The storm will make for a crappy weekend in Cabo—sorry about that—but it shouldn’t be too bad, as long as you’re not in the water.

Weather forecasts have come a long way over the past couple of decades. Meteorologists can give you a deadly accurate five-day forecast today, when forecasting the weather beyond a day was a feat 30 years ago. Forecasts today are accurate to a fault: people expect too much, and get angry and disappointed when their friendly local weatherperson can’t deliver.

Hurricane Blanca is only the second named storm in the three-week-old Pacific Hurricane Season, but it’s already the second category four hurricane to form there in the past two days. The storm will slowly move towards the Baja Peninsula this weekend, after which it might or might not drench the American Southwest.

As we crawl through this, our second day of True Summer (not that fake astronomical stuff), many people who haven’t had thunderstorms yet this year are in for a flashing, crashing, startling treat. What exactly is it about lightning that makes that thunderous noise, and why does it seem to crackle, boom, and roll?

Today is the two-year anniversary of the largest tornado ever recorded. The tornado, a multiple-vortex EF-3 (by damage, EF-5 by radar measurements) grew to an astonishing width of 2.6 miles at its widest. The storm killed eight people, including three highly experienced storm chasers caught by the tornado’s explosive growth and erratic movement of the smaller vortices within the larger circulation.

As we close in on the end of meteorological spring, here’s a look at the 737 tornado reports sent to the Storm Prediction Center between March 1 and May 29 (today). It wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, all things considered. The actual number of tornadoes is lower than 737—multiple reports exist for many tornadoes, and some damage reported as being caused by a tornado turns out to be straight-line wind damage, instead.

We’re three days away from the start of hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean, and we’ve already seen one tropical storm this year. Tropical storms in May aren’t all that rare, but they aren’t exactly an omen, either. Forecasters expect a below-average hurricane season, but it just takes one to make a mess.