Latest news with #stormchasing
CBS News
3 days ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Sunday is a comfortable start to the week before sweltering heat returns to Pittsburgh area
Last night into this morning's thunderstorm complex did not fully materialize as well as previously anticipated. Some mid-level dry air likely played a role in keeping activity less widespread. WEATHER LINKS: Current Conditions | School Closings & Delays | Submit Your Weather Photos Still, there are some scattered showers moving across our area this morning, along with a few isolated storms into northern portions of West Virginia. All of Western Pennsylvania remains within a very warm and humid air mass and will continue to do so through the early to late evening hours of Sunday. A cold front will be moving in from the northwest and enter our northwest counties around 2 p.m., Pittsburgh metro by 6-7 p.m., and Northern West Virginia by 3-4 a.m. Monday. Some additional isolated to widely scattered storms are expected with the front as it progresses southeast this afternoon and early evening. While the front will be moving from northwest to southeast, any thunderstorm cells will move from west to east and should move quickly enough to preclude a flash flood threat. Coverage will overall be limited as well since winds along the front will not be converging strongly. Areas from the Pittsburgh metro and points south and west have the highest chance of rain. Drier and cooler air will filter in Monday morning, leading to a gradual decrease in clouds. Morning lows on Monday and Tuesday will be refreshing, with most of our area in the upper 50s to low 60s and highs in the upper 70s to low 80s, which is closer to normal for this time of year. This brief break in the excessively humid and hot conditions will be very short-lived as winds begin to flip around to the southwest by Wednesday afternoon. Temperatures will respond by warming into the upper 80s to near 90 for highs on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday will likely both exceed 90 degrees for air temperatures as a strong upper-level high migrates east to our region and low-level winds transport hot air into Western Pennsylvania from states to the southwest. Evaporation of moisture from soils and trees should help keep air temperatures only in the low 90s, but this added moisture will make for dangerous heat indices near 100 degrees Thursday and Friday afternoon and evening. The high levels of moisture will keep air temperatures from dropping much at night, with lows in the low to mid 70s, especially in the core of the urban heat island of Pittsburgh. It is likely that the National Weather Service Pittsburgh Office will issue a Heat Advisory to account for this potential. The upper high or heat dome will begin to weaken by Friday and allow a couple of weak disturbances to slip in, leading to storm chances by late Friday and Saturday. Given the amounts of heat and moisture that will be in place, there will be plenty of instability to possibly support a severe storm potential as well. Stay up to date with the KDKA Mobile App – which you can download here!
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Alberta storm chasers find beauty, science, community up in the clouds
You know when Environment Canada tells you a storm is coming and to stay away from it? There's a group of people based in Alberta who find their happy place in the eye of a storm, not a safe distance from it. Matt Melnyk comes by his love of clouds organically. As an airline pilot, he flies among them on a regular basis. "I've always been fascinated by clouds," Melnyk told CBC News in an interview. "Why does that one look like cauliflower, why does this one look like silk? When you see them in a thunderstorm there are so many different parts. You have the wall cloud, the shelf cloud, the cumulonimbus cloud. There are so many different parts of it. No two storms are the same, which I find super amazing." Melnyk has been storm chasing for more than 15 years. "I am part of a group called Team Dominator Canada. It's the Canadian version of professional storm chasers in the States." Mark Simpson is on the same team, but with another purpose. "My focus is mainly collecting science data so we can improve response times for tornados," Simpson explained. "Other members do photography, safety, and some others do some science as well." Simpson, who isn't a pilot, stumbled into his passion almost 30 years ago in 1996. "I supposed I got into it when I saw the first Twister movie," he said, with a laugh. "I kind of always had a passion for it and the opportunity arose when I moved to Canada. I found out there are tornados nearby so I decided to learn how to chase. I got the opportunity to go down to the U.S. due to the need to get data. I used the skills I have in electronics so I could build a sensor that we could launch into a tornado." During the summer, especially in July, Simpson stays busy. It's roughly four days on, then three days to analyze the video and data. "We are a little bit on the fringe from the research ourselves. We are not affiliated with the university. That allows us to do some things that others consider a little bit extreme," he said. But working outside the world of academia has its advantages too. "That said, the science stands on its own. You can either do it and reach that goal, or not. We do get more scrutiny but that's fine. Some of the work we do is fairly cutting edge, it's new, and stuff not being done in the universities." The goal is to get the work published, but there is also a public safety piece. "A lot of people monitor social media to see where bad weather is going to hit, so we try to give the location of the storm, the direction it is moving in, things like that." Simpson said a good sized storm can attract around 30 to 40 chasers. Meanwhile, for the pilot with a side hustle, it's about capturing a split second of magic. "I like to go out there and put myself in a position where I can get a really cool photo and come home with a postcard," Melnyk said. "When I got my first lightning photo, I was hooked right away."
CBC
15-07-2025
- CBC
Alberta's wild weather has become a magnet for a unique group of characters: storm chasers
Whether it's for science, photography or an intense thrill, storm chasers have found southern Alberta to be a good place to go about their business. Dan McGarvey spoke with a couple of them about why they do it. (Photo credit: Matt Melnyk)
CBC
15-07-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Alberta storm chasers find beauty, science, community up in the clouds
Social Sharing You know when Environment Canada tells you a storm is coming and to stay away from it? There's a group of people based in Alberta who find their happy place in the eye of a storm, not a safe distance from it. Matt Melnyk comes by his love of clouds organically. As an airline pilot, he flies among them on a regular basis. "I've always been fascinated by clouds," Melnyk told CBC News in an interview. "Why does that one look like cauliflower, why does this one look like silk? When you see them in a thunderstorm there are so many different parts. You have the wall cloud, the shelf cloud, the cumulonimbus cloud. There are so many different parts of it. No two storms are the same, which I find super amazing." Melnyk has been storm chasing for more than 15 years. "I am part of a group called Team Dominator Canada. It's the Canadian version of professional storm chasers in the States." Mark Simpson is on the same team, but with another purpose. "My focus is mainly collecting science data so we can improve response times for tornados," Simpson explained. "Other members do photography, safety, and some others do some science as well." Simpson, who isn't a pilot, stumbled into his passion almost 30 years ago in 1996. "I supposed I got into it when I saw the first Twister movie," he said, with a laugh. "I kind of always had a passion for it and the opportunity arose when I moved to Canada. I found out there are tornados nearby so I decided to learn how to chase. I got the opportunity to go down to the U.S. due to the need to get data. I used the skills I have in electronics so I could build a sensor that we could launch into a tornado." During the summer, especially in July, Simpson stays busy. It's roughly four days on, then three days to analyze the video and data. "We are a little bit on the fringe from the research ourselves. We are not affiliated with the university. That allows us to do some things that others consider a little bit extreme," he said. But working outside the world of academia has its advantages too. "That said, the science stands on its own. You can either do it and reach that goal, or not. We do get more scrutiny but that's fine. Some of the work we do is fairly cutting edge, it's new, and stuff not being done in the universities." The goal is to get the work published, but there is also a public safety piece. "A lot of people monitor social media to see where bad weather is going to hit, so we try to give the location of the storm, the direction it is moving in, things like that." Simpson said a good sized storm can attract around 30 to 40 chasers. Meanwhile, for the pilot with a side hustle, it's about capturing a split second of magic. "I like to go out there and put myself in a position where I can get a really cool photo and come home with a postcard," Melnyk said. "When I got my first lightning photo, I was hooked right away."
CTV News
05-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
CTV National News: Buzz over video of a rare phenomenon taken by Alberta couple
Watch Storm chasers are buzzing after a video taken by an Alberta couple appeared to show a rare phenomenon called 'ball lightning.' John Vennavally-Rao explains.
