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Articles on Thunderstorms

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Janelle Lugge/Shutterstock

We can’t say yet if grid-breaking thunderstorms are getting worse – but we shouldn’t wait to find out

Extreme winds from thunderstorms have downed transmission towers from Victoria to Western Australia in recent years. What’s going on?
Lightning during a monsoon storm in southern Arizona, Saguaro National Park. Pete Gregoire, NOAA

Monsoons make deserts bloom in the US Southwest, but climate change is making these summer rainfalls more extreme and erratic

Monsoons are weather patterns that bring thunderstorms and heavy rains to hot, dry areas when warm, moist ocean air moves inland. They’re challenging to forecast, especially in a changing climate.
Parts of Lake Elsinore, California, were overrun with muddy floodwater after a storm hit the Holy Fire burn scar in 2018. Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/Digital First Media/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images

Wildfire burn scars can intensify and even create thunderstorms that lead to catastrophic flooding – here’s how it works

An atmospheric scientist and sailplane pilot describes why large areas of burned land can produce clouds and rainstorms.
Debris near Lebanon, Tennessee, after tornadoes struck on the night of March 3, 2020, killing more than 20 people across the state. AP Photo/Mark Humphrey

Wild weather: 4 essential reads about tornadoes and thunderstorms

With the onset of spring come thunderstorms, and sometimes tornadoes. Learn how these systems form and why night tornadoes are especially deadly.
Icy hailstones can do major damage, depending where they land. AP Photo/Nati Harnik

Destructive 2018 hail season a sign of things to come

The future climate that scientists predict for the middle of the United States is one that will foster more hail events with bigger hailstones.
One one thousand, two one thousand…. Eric Ward/Unsplash

How far away was that lightning?

When you see a bolt of lightning, do you immediately start counting to see how far off a storm is? An atmospheric scientist parses the practice.

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