37
votes
Why do trees break at the same wind speed?
Why do trees break at the same wind speed?
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Note that in the above image, that almost all of the trees had their tops snapped off. This claim is about tree's being ...
- 24.7k
14
votes
Is it typically colder after a storm?
The major factors in temperature change from precipitation...
First, fundamentally rain is falling to the ground from higher in the sky.
Precipitation typically comes from a location where it is ...
- 8,826
9
votes
Why do trees break at the same wind speed?
As the other answer points out, this is very likely an evolutionary adaptation that balances sturdiness with unnecessary overengineering. From a physics perspective, the relatively constant breaking ...
- 400
8
votes
Why do trees break at the same wind speed?
The general claim seems to be incorrect:
This phenomenon is independent of type and size of the tree.
Based on other answers, the claims around this appear to be that the scale of the tree doesn't ...
- 196
6
votes
Accepted
Are halcyon days an actual phenomenon?
The story of Halcyon days is that there is a period of 7 (or 14?) days around midwinter (on the 21st of December) on which Aeolus does not make the wind to blow - to allow the Kingfisher, 'Alcyone to ...
- 787
5
votes
Accepted
What's really happening with "stormquakes"?
The article can be found here in Geophysical Research Letters:
Fan, W., McGuire, J. J., Groot‐Hedlin, C. D., Hedlin, M. A. H., Coats, S., & Fiedler, J. W. ( 2019). Stormquakes Geophysical Research ...
- 216
5
votes
Accepted
Why do hurricanes hitting the US East Coast seem to go north once hitting land?
It is mostly due to the Coriolis effect (aka Coriolis Force). (Another reference here) Because of the Coriolis Effect, parcels of air (think of boxes of air) in the northern hemisphere are deflected ...
- 8,837
5
votes
Why do trees break at the same wind speed?
Some excellent answers are already available, but they are all examining a single tree in isolation, as if putting a tree to a wind tunnel to see whether it snaps or not. That's not how every trees ...
- 191
4
votes
Why don't terrestrial storms heat up the upper atmosphere?
It's first important to distinguish what you mean by the upper atmosphere. Weather occurs in the troposphere. The tropopause (boundary between troposphere and stratosphere, which is a dynamic boundary)...
4
votes
Accepted
What is the best way to stay safe while photographing lightning storms?
Yes, most storm chasers are risking their lives to take lightning photos. Your likelihood of being struck is obviously higher the closer you are to where lightning is originating from. However, ...
- 94
4
votes
Accepted
What's the difference between these most basic, first-order models for estimating runoff?
The models are similar in that they simplify the rainfall-runoff relationship into a few parameters, and essentially use some kind of first-order coefficient to partition rainfall into infiltration ...
- 751
3
votes
Why do trees break at the same wind speed?
One important additional factor is that the stress (and damage) isn't linear. A very basic idea is that energy is velocity squared. But Prahl et. al. 2008 included some review of the theories on ...
- 8,826
3
votes
Accepted
Severe storm predictions: What meteorological considerations go into hazard assessments?
The SPC's changeover announcement webpage offers very useful information on the change, and is central to this answer...
Correction:
There were actually 4 categories prior to the change. The SPC ...
- 8,826
3
votes
How does wind cause large waves?
This is going to be brief as on a phone : I welcome somebody posting a more complete answer. But the basic principle of large waves appearing from wind is:
from a smooth water surface, the wind can ...
- 5,810
3
votes
What was the storm surge height from Hurricane Harvey?
For a general view of the surge in the region, the maps in u-surge give a pretty good idea of numbers and more affected regions.
The USGS provides a comprehensive view of High Water Marks (HWM) in ...
- 15.5k
2
votes
Accepted
What was the storm surge height from Hurricane Harvey?
My house elevation is 9.1 feet above sea level, according to all "expert" measurements. That includes the city, county, state, Feds, and all insurers. It seems about right to me. But then again, I ...
- 44
2
votes
Accepted
Why are storms relatively short on Earth?
The main driving force for storms to form at all are the equator-pole temperature gradients. The main reason for them to stop is friction between the lower atmosphere and earth's surface. This ...
- 81
2
votes
Snow thunderstorms
Thunder is a manifestation of lightning, the sudden discharge of (static) electrical potential between cloud and ground, or cloud and cloud. That potential is built up through convection of vapor from ...
- 2,813
2
votes
How could humans alter storm intensity or direction other than cloud seeding?
There are numerous ways. Arguably, some we are already doing, but are not intended (such as urbanization and the emission of different pollutants). But I'll suppose you are wondering about intentional ...
- 8,837
2
votes
How stormy (wave height) does Lake Baikal get?
An article here says 4 meters. (No statistical data however, just a general information page)
Waves on Lake Baikal may reach a height of 4 meters. Sometimes they
evaluated as 5 and even 6 meters, ...
- 1,185
2
votes
Databases of all Astronomical Geomagnetic storms data
Could you be specific in your question as to what data you need on storms? Do you just need dates when storms occurred, or global geomagnetic index activity levels, or ground magnetic field ...
- 1,031
2
votes
Accepted
Why is there so much activity in the upper atmosphere, even though it is usually colder?
What causes the motion of air is, ultimately, differences in pressure and density. Dense air wants to sink down, light air wants to raise, and air wants to flow from areas of high pressure to areas of ...
- 2,158
2
votes
Why are these three "disturbed weather" events called "Invest" and what to the subsequent numbers and letters mean?
Invest-97L eventually became Atlantic Tropical Depression 04, and then later, Tropical Storm Debby, and then later yet, Hurricane Debby.
"Invests" are areas of tropical weather ...
- 24.7k
1
vote
Accepted
Rainfall Rate - unit conversion
Rainfall rate as mm/hr or in/hr is in terms of length, not volume. You're thinking of it as a "per unit area" rate, but that would be reported in volume or mass, not length. Another way to ...
- 915
1
vote
At the same speed, is a tornado as dangerous as straight wind?
I'd have to say a tornado would be more dangerous than a straight wind of equal speed. Tornados have a very low-pressure center and violent updrafts as can be seen in this YouTube video . As the roofs ...
- 2,197
1
vote
Are there ways stormwater attenuation can be quantified for comparison between different systems or conditions?
A typical ratio calculated to quantify this type of response, especially at larger scales (such as for land use changes) is the runoff ratio:
$$R = Q/ P$$
where $R$ is the runoff ratio [mm/mm or ...
- 751
1
vote
How could humans alter storm intensity or direction other than cloud seeding?
It is possible to change a storm a tiny bit by harvesting some of the wind energy atleast localy by using wind mills.
The energy of even the weakest storm is multiple gigawatts and in a strong storm ...
- 1,884
1
vote
Why is there no middle ground between tornadoes and hurricanes?
there actually is a continuum of size , examples include mesovortices and remnant lows
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible