Science

The International Space Station did a flyover of Southern Wisconsin into Western Michigan on Sunday giving people on Earth a pretty cool view from space.

On a scale of 1-5, the storm later this week will be a "Category 4", capable of near-blizzard conditions and even coastal flooding and beach erosion on Lake Superior, due to sustained winds of 30-50 mph for 1-2 days. The heaviest snows will stay south, but more plowable snow is on the way.

Residents of Minnesota and Wisconsin are used to snow falling in the winter. It's no big deal. But this won't be an ordinary storm set-up. Cold temperatures and a long-duration snowfall may spark near blizzard conditions by Thursday, and a big swath of the region may pick up 1-2 FEET of snow by Friday morning. Expect major travel disruptions as the week goes on.

Flowers are blooming in the southern USA - lake effect snowbelts in Ohio and upstate New York were in the 60s and 70s a couple days ago. What is going on, and why is so much of the nation experiencing springlike warmth?

Satellite data shows ice on Lake Superior at the lowest levels ever recorded as of February 15, less than 5% of the greatest Great Lake is frozen over.

Back in Meteorology 1 I learned that things tend to get colder the farther north you go. But not always. On a sunny day pine trees actually keep the Northland warmer, and there's a good scientific reason for this!

Consistently cold weather (under 32F) does not create potholes. It's the fluctuation in temperature above and below 32F that creates conditions necessary to turn streets into war-zones. Our early taste of March means an early pothole season this year. Oh snap.

La Nina has kept the Northland cooler than average for much of the last 3 years but that chilly bias in the Pacific may be giving way to an El Nino event later this year, which would imply much warmer conditions next winter. Much is up in the air, but the patterns are shifting.

Balloons tend to signify a good time. But not always, as the recent Chinese spy balloon sighting and tracking proved. Chinese officials tried to make the case that it was a weather balloon, but that's simply not true. In this post we show the (massive) differences between a spy balloon and a weather balloon.

You've heard meteorologists talk about various weather models during their forecasts. A common one is the "European Model". What is it, and why is it important?

I'm going to make this easy: residents of the Northland will, in fact, get to enjoy 6 more weeks of winter. Frankly, I'll be relieved if it's ONLY 6 more weeks, and not 16 weeks... You know the drill: "Every February 2, a crowd of thousands gathers at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to await a special forecast from a groundhog named Phil. If t...

"There is nothing between the Northland and the North Pole but a barbed wire fence" someone once explained to me. No mountain ranges, no warming oceans to get in the way. We get fresh arctic air, not the used cold fronts that plague so much of America...