About 50 years ago, vorticity thinking helped unveil basic properties of squall lines. Zhang now provides a closed theory, demystifying one of nature’s most important forms of convective organization.
rain
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Amazon Basin Tree Rings Hold a Record of the Region’s Rainfall
New research provides a 200-year reconstruction of interannual rainfall in the Amazon basin using oxygen isotopes preserved in tree rings in Ecuador and Bolivia.
Posted inNews
Rain Makes Skulls Bigger—in Mice
New research shows how regional weather, shaped by towering mountain ranges, might influence the size and shape of local rodents.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Why Does It Rain So Much Over Tropical Land?
Analyses of observations show that tropical land receives more rain than its fair share, owing to a proposed negative feedback that is not captured in current climate models.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Advanced Real-Time Prediction of Storms With 30-Second Refresh
A new-generation weather radar and a massive supercomputing system enables forecasts of storms refreshed every 30 seconds, a significant development in severe weather prediction.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
More Accurately Modeling Rain Formation
Rain and cloud droplets are treated as distinct categories in most models yet lie on a continuous droplet size spectrum in nature. Representing them as part of a continuous spectrum improves models.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Explaining Uncertainty in Estimates of Rain Response to Warming
Humidity increases with warming. Theory and observations about how increased humidity translates into more extreme rainfall can be reconciled if attention is paid to data and methods.
Posted inNews
Large-Scale Reforestation Efforts Could Dry Out Landscapes Across the World
The complex interactions between forests and the water cycle might end up with more rain falling in the ocean—far from a thirsty land.
Posted inNews
A Community-Led Landslide Prediction System in India
In a first-of-its-kind disaster prevention initiative, a meteorology-based landslide prediction system was developed as a crowdsourced science effort.
Posted inNews
Crowdsourced Weather Projects Boost Climate Science Research
Historic observations, manually transcribed from handwritten records, are giving scientists a fresh glimpse into Victorian era climate.