Latest news with #weatherresearch
CBC
23-07-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Researchers chase storms, study fist-sized stones in Alberta's 'Hailstorm Alley'
Social Sharing Julian Brimelow holds up a replica of the mother of all hailstones — a lumpy white blob as big as your fist carrying the weight of two baseballs with the power to pulverize fields of corn into green-yellow mush. Brimelow and other researchers from Western University in London, Ont., are using it in their research to better understand and predict Alberta's prevalent hailstorm activity, and mitigate harm to people and property. Hail can be bad across the Prairies. But Brimelow says when it hits in Alberta, it hits hard. "It's much worse than I thought it could be in terms of damage potential," Brimelow said Tuesday at the project's open house at the Telus Spark Science Centre. "On the same day as the (2024) Calgary hailstorm, there was a storm farther south and that decimated six to seven-foot corn crops to the point that our team wasn't sure it was actually corn," he said. "It was that pummeled into the ground." WATCH | The Northern Hail Project surveys the damage caused by Calgary's recent hailstorm How a Canadian storm laboratory is investigating Calgary's hail damage 4 days ago The Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory at Western University in London, Ont., has dispatched a damage survey team to chase and investigate destruction from Alberta storms this summer. The 'Northern Hail Project' crew went out with the CBC's Acton Clarkin after a major hailstorm hit pockets of Calgary. "Hailstorm Alley" runs from High River, just south of Calgary, north to central Alberta. The area sees more than 40 hailstorms every summer, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Brimelow, executive director of the Northern Hail Project — a branch of Western University's Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory — said it's probably the most active hailstorm zone in Canada. A storm in Calgary last August brought significant hail, strong winds, heavy rain and localized flooding, affecting about one in five homes. The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimated the damage to the city, deemed the country's second-costliest weather-related disaster, at $2.8 billion. Hailstones as big as golf balls hammered the tarmac at Calgary International Airport, damaging planes at WestJet and Flair Airlines, and forcing them to ground 10 per cent of their fleets for repairs and inspections. Brimelow said such hailstorms are underestimated at one's peril. Several small animals and pets were killed in Calgary last year, he said, and an infant was killed in Europe in 2023. The research sees stones collected on scene, preserved in a mobile freezer, and later measured, weighed, photographed and perhaps replicated. "The more interesting stones we'll 3D scan and then we can make prints," he said. Copies of several realistic hailstones were on display at the open house, ranging in size from a walnut to a golf ball and one bigger than a large hand. "This is the new record-sized Canadian stone. This fell in 2022 near Innisfail," Brimelow said. "This is 12.3 centimetres across and nearly weighs 300 grams. This would have been falling at 160-plus kilometres an hour." The team's field co-ordinator, Jack Hamilton, said the size and shape of the stones provide researchers with information on what happens inside the storms. "It was long thought that the hailstone sort of goes through the storm in a washing machine cycle. But we're actually learning that it's probably just once, maybe twice, that the hailstone goes through the storm and it collects all of its mass in that one travel through," Hamilton said. "It gets bigger and bigger, and eventually gravity takes over and it falls. And it falls pretty fast." To get the stones, they first have to chase them. Hamilton said their chase vehicles have a protective coating against hail and are equipped with storm-locating radar and a lightning detector for safety.
CTV News
22-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Researchers chase storms, study fist-sized stones in Alberta's ‘Hailstorm Alley'
Julian Brimelow, executive director of the Northern Hail Project, displays a 3D replica of a near record hailstone collected in 2022, at the Telus Spark Science Centre in Calgary, on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Graveland) Julian Brimelow holds up a replica of the mother of all hailstones – a lumpy white blob as big as your fist carrying the weight of two baseballs with the power to pulverize fields of corn into green-yellow mush. Brimelow and other researchers from Western University in London, Ont., are using it in their research to better understand and predict Alberta's prevalent hailstorm activity and mitigate harm to people and property. Hail can be bad across the Prairies. But Brimelow says when it hits in Alberta, it hits hard. 'It's much worse than I thought it could be in terms of damage potential,' Brimelow said Tuesday at the project's open house at the Telus Spark Science Centre. 'On the same day as the (2024) Calgary hailstorm, there was a storm farther south and that decimated six to seven-foot corn crops to the point that our team wasn't sure it was actually corn,' he said. 'It was that pummeled into the ground.' 'Hailstorm Alley' runs from High River, just south of Calgary, north to central Alberta. The area sees more than 40 hailstorms every summer, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Brimelow, executive director of the Northern Hail Project — a branch of Western University's Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory — said it's probably the most active hailstorm zone in Canada. A storm in Calgary last August brought significant hail, strong winds, heavy rain and localized flooding, affecting about one in five homes. The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimated the damage to the city, deemed the country's second-costliest weather-related disaster, at $2.8 billion. Hailstones as big as golf balls hammered the tarmac at Calgary International Airport, damaging planes at WestJet and Flair Airlines and forcing them to ground 10 per cent of their fleets for repairs and inspections. Brimelow said such hailstorms are underestimated at one's peril. Several small animals and pets were killed in Calgary last year, he said, and an infant was killed in Europe in 2023. The research sees stones collected on scene, preserved in a mobile freezer, and later measured, weighed, photographed and perhaps replicated. 'The more interesting stones we'll 3D scan and then we can make prints,' he said. Copies of several realistic hailstones were on display at the open house, ranging in size from a walnut to a golf ball and one bigger than a large hand. 'This is the new record-sized Canadian stone. This fell in 2022 near Innisfail,' Brimelow said. 'This is 12.3 centimetres across and nearly weighs 300 grams. This would have been falling at 160-plus kilometres an hour.' The team's field co-ordinator, Jack Hamilton, said the size and shape of the stones provide researchers with information on what happens inside the storms. 'It was long thought that the hailstone sort of goes through the storm in a washing machine cycle. But we're actually learning that it's probably just once, maybe twice, that the hailstone goes through the storm and it collects all of its mass in that one travel through,' Hamilton said. 'It gets bigger and bigger, and eventually gravity takes over and it falls. And it falls pretty fast.' To get the stones, they first have to chase them. Hamilton said their chase vehicles have a protective coating against hail and are equipped with storm-locating radar and a lightning detector for safety. 'Our primary objective is to collect as much data as we possibly can,' he said. 'We go in behind these storms, and we collect the hail that falls behind it.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2025. Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
An Unsettled Weekend Lies Ahead, Sunshine Later This Week!
Tonight will see heavier cloud cover and showers move in with a warm front accompanying a mid-latitude cyclone. The bulk of these showers will occur very late into the night past midnight. The decreased energy in the nighttime will prevent this front from producing much more than heavy rain, but a rumble or two of thunder can still be expected. Tonight's showers will give us about a half inch of rain with an emphasis on our southwest counties. Lows tonight will be in the low 60s. Tomorrow sees a cold front quickly following. As a result, the showers will continue on into the day, with thunderstorms developing toward the afternoon. While widespread severe activity is not expected, an isolated severe storm could make its way into our region. The main threats seen in tomorrow's storms will be small hail, wind, and isolated raised water. Remember to watch for pooling on the roads, and never try to cross standing water. Highs tomorrow will reach the mid 70s. Monday sees a quick warm-up from the low 60s to the upper 70s. Scattered light rain can be expected in the morning before another cold front rolls through providing more thunderstorms. Again, a widespread severe threat is not anticipated, but daytime heating and a strong southerly breeze will create the potential for a severe storm or two, with the primary threats being damaging winds and a hailstone here and there. Highs will reach the upper 70s. Join scientists as they drive into hailstorms to study the costly weather extreme Tuesday morning will bring leftover showers as a result of moisture coming off the Great Lakes, with those showers fizzling out by the mid-afternoon. Temperatures will rise from the low 60s to the upper 70s. Wednesday sees high pressure settling in, giving us a nice, sunny day. Drier conditions as a result of that higher pressure will cause temperatures to quickly rise from the mid 50s to the upper 70s. Thursday, that high pressure holds strong! Abundant sunshine and highs in the low 80s will make for a great day to go on a hike! NASA's Parker Solar Probe aims to fly closer to the sun like never before Friday sees showers roll in by the early afternoon, lasting through the night as a result of a stalled boundary seated near the southern West Virginia border. Temperatures will rise from the low 60s to the low 80s. Saturday sees those showers continue on, strengthening throughout the day. Lows will be in the mid 60s, and highs will be in the low 80s. Looking ahead at your extended forecast, expect those showers to hang around for a couple more days, accompanying highs in the upper 70s. TONIGHT: Warm front brings heavy rain. Lows in the low Showers continue with T-storms. Highs in the mid T-storms in the afternoon. Highs near Clearing out. Highs in the upper Lots of sunshine! Highs in the upper Sunshine continues. Highs in the low Showers in the PM. Highs in the low Rain holds strong. Highs near Showers continue. Highs in the upper Scattered light rain. Highs in the upper Iso showers. Highs in the upper 70s. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CNN
27-05-2025
- Climate
- CNN
Climate and weather scientists are joining the anti-Trump resistance in the most ‘scientist-iest' way
Forget marching in the streets with creative signs. For President Donald Trump's second term, in the face of steep funding cuts for climate and weather research and forecasting, scientists have a new way of engaging the public: livestreamed presentations. Starting Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET and lasting for 100 straight hours, climate and weather specialists will spend 15 minutes each talking about their work and why it is so valuable for the American people. Their goal is to call attention to the impacts of cuts to federal agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and the Department of Energy, along with the Trump administration's withholding of research funding to academia. The livestream marathon is billed as nonpartisan, according to Marc Alessi of the environmental group Union of Concerned Scientists, who is one of about a dozen organizers. But while speakers may not denounce the Trump administration head-on, the effort is a response to policy moves that have left the National Weather Service short-staffed at the start of hurricane season and climate science research in the budgetary crosshairs, and it is seen among the community as a form of so-called resistance to the administration's changes. It is also timed to mark the end of NASA's longstanding lease at Columbia University, which housed the agency's top climate lab, known as the Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The Trump administration canceled that lease in April, and the facility's scientists, who study Earth's climate and track global average temperatures, will be forced to work remotely. 'We think that this livestream is basically an opportunity for scientists to show how these cuts to our research really damage our ability to do climate science and weather prediction,' Alessi said. 'If the American public tunes in, they watch our science talks, they will see how our science benefits the public,' he said. Climate scientist Kate Marvel, who will be participating in the livestream event in her personal capacity, said the series of talks may be 'The scientist-iest thing we could do,' but it makes sense given the expertise of those who are taking part. 'This is really speaking to the public and saying, 'Look, look at all of the amazing stuff you get for pennies on the dollar,'' she said, referring to publicly-funded weather and climate research. As for the event's potential political overtones, she said the event is being organized by many early-career researchers interested in shoring up the viability of their field of study and sharing the relevance of their work. 'Nobody wants to hear me complain about the administration,' Marvel said.
CNN
27-05-2025
- Climate
- CNN
Climate and weather scientists are joining the anti-Trump resistance in the most ‘scientist-iest' way
Forget marching in the streets with creative signs. For President Donald Trump's second term, in the face of steep funding cuts for climate and weather research and forecasting, scientists have a new way of engaging the public: livestreamed presentations. Starting Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET and lasting for 100 straight hours, climate and weather specialists will spend 15 minutes each talking about their work and why it is so valuable for the American people. Their goal is to call attention to the impacts of cuts to federal agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and the Department of Energy, along with the Trump administration's withholding of research funding to academia. The livestream marathon is billed as nonpartisan, according to Marc Alessi of the environmental group Union of Concerned Scientists, who is one of about a dozen organizers. But while speakers may not denounce the Trump administration head-on, the effort is a response to policy moves that have left the National Weather Service short-staffed at the start of hurricane season and climate science research in the budgetary crosshairs, and it is seen among the community as a form of so-called resistance to the administration's changes. It is also timed to mark the end of NASA's longstanding lease at Columbia University, which housed the agency's top climate lab, known as the Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The Trump administration canceled that lease in April, and the facility's scientists, who study Earth's climate and track global average temperatures, will be forced to work remotely. 'We think that this livestream is basically an opportunity for scientists to show how these cuts to our research really damage our ability to do climate science and weather prediction,' Alessi said. 'If the American public tunes in, they watch our science talks, they will see how our science benefits the public,' he said. Climate scientist Kate Marvel, who will be participating in the livestream event in her personal capacity, said the series of talks may be 'The scientist-iest thing we could do,' but it makes sense given the expertise of those who are taking part. 'This is really speaking to the public and saying, 'Look, look at all of the amazing stuff you get for pennies on the dollar,'' she said, referring to publicly-funded weather and climate research. As for the event's potential political overtones, she said the event is being organized by many early-career researchers interested in shoring up the viability of their field of study and sharing the relevance of their work. 'Nobody wants to hear me complain about the administration,' Marvel said.
