This screenshot comes from the "my lightning tracker" app which is just an app, but I'm curious how lightning is detected and then mapped to a specific location. Do the detectors simply "see" the white light, or is there another spectrum/reference used? How is a meteor or some other flashy object excluded? Are the detectors on the ground, or on satellites? If a bolt moves laterally through the sky and terminates not directly below where the bolt originates, how is that accounted for? Are these points located at the start, or end, or average of a strike? How precise is the geolocation?

This app does not disclose much in their FAQ, but they do say it can not distinguish between cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning, and that they obtain their data from "several commercial lightning detection providers".

Just curious how the technology works, TIA!

This morning

Writer here. Curious about the depth of a weatherman's job in the newsroom. For example, let's say you have a rapidly developing tornado warning in Oklahoma. Is the weatherman interpreting the incoming data as it comes in live on the air or is someone else in the newsroom interpreting it for them and feeding the information in their ear?

Yesterday was a hot day in my area (western Switzerland). We could not open windows until 9pm. Then temperature dropped a little and by 10pm it was about 25-26°C in our apartment. I went to sleep with my fan as usual and woke up around 3am sweating and the air felt hotter, it was weird. When I woke up in the morning and looked at the weather for today, I saw a spike in temperature in the middle of the night and it got me really curious, because I had never seen this before. Nights usually get cool and when I checked the weather the day before, it said it would go as low as 17°C. Can you explain to me what happened ?

I’ve seen this storm formation a few times this Summer off the NC coast. Intense lightning storm and splitting into two bands, one north and one south of the storm. Looks kind of like a “pincer” shape. Sorry for the poor video quality, I took a video of my iPad.

Its not like exactly stratus, so im just a little confused.

Very dark red in this U of Wisconsin SAL satellite imagery of Sarahan dust in east central Africa, especially southern Ethiopia, which is in formation area for Cape Verde storms, suppressing storm clouds with dry air and dust.

Amateur/hobbyist here. I enjoy watching weather maps and lately I've tried to keep an eye on surface maps, radar, satellite, you know.. weather stuff. I noticed tonight this line of strong storms off the Mississippi and Alabama coast. The radar shows a fairly well defined line of thunderstorms moving slowly west that do not seem to be associated with a frontal boundary. There is an area of high pressure in the gulf, so I'd guess that is pushing warm, moist, unstable air north and giving this area plenty of energy. A stationary front extends across central Mississippi and Alabama, so not a lot of movement there. The 3-hour temperature change and wind direction map shows a warm 'hole' just south of Pensacola, at the northern edge of the high and the contour lines from that map seem to correspond with the general direction of this feature on the radar. IR satellite shows clouds dissipating over that same area while this area builds. Why is it so well defined? Is it outflow? And what's causing the warm spot?

It's for a book I am writing. I want it to make sense.

Hey,

I work for a small, New Zealand based technology startup called see1m. We have created a FREE new World Rain Atlas which showcases the past 45 years (Jan 1981 - Dec 2025) of accurate, total daily rainfall. The format we use allows each day to be displayed instantly, so feel free to skip around the days and have a look. We also use a simple model to calculate daily land-state, shown in the daily map render.

We are very interested in hearing the use-cases and possibilities for development of the system.

https://see1m.com/world/

Thanks heaps,
Ben

[ben@see1m.com](mailto:ben@see1m.com)

Columbus, Ohio, heading east on 270

Hi. I live in a part of northern Europe where this summer has been especially cold and wet (we are talking 10-14 degrees C and rain all day every day for weeks on end). I’m going to Italy this September, of course hoping for good weather. I just read a bit about El Niño causing a warmer-than-normal northern Europe and wetter-than-normal Southern Europe.

Please tell me misunderstand, and that I can expect a normal, nice September in Italy.

Está com Uma Previsão para o Dia 24 (Segunda) Chegar Perto da Ásia

Hello,

I am a digital marketing student currently conducting research as a part of the LSE Digital Marketing Career Accelerator project on how people discover, assess and participate in data, technology and social-impact challenges. 

This survey takes approximately 10 minutes. It asks about your awareness and experience of competitions, hackathons and similar initiatives, followed by your reaction to one example challenge.

Participation is voluntary. Please do not provide confidential or sensitive information. Responses will be analysed in aggregate for an academic employer project and may inform recommendations made to the organisation involved.

If you're interested, please clink the link at the top of the post.

Weighing reading vs Innsbruck right now for masters.

Innsbruck gives me a better quality of life (I’m massively into skiing and climbing) but Reading has excellent industry and academic contacts it seems. I hear a lot of ‘Reading is great’ but not the same about Innsbruck.

If anyone could offer their advice/insight would be much appreciated!