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Articles on Weather

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Winter road salting is a common de-icing technique used to ensure public safety during icy winters. However, it is crucial to find sustainable and environment-friendly alternatives to road salt. (Shutterstock)

Winter road salting has year-round consequences

Salty water seeps into our soils and groundwater through surface runoff and storm-water pipes. The long-term storage of salt in the environment impacts aquatic life, infrastructure and drinking water.
Damage in Mayfield, Kentucky, after a tornado swept through the area on Dec. 11, 2021. Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

Why the southern US is prone to December tornadoes

Tornadoes in December aren’t unusual in the Gulf Coast and lower Mississippi Valley states, but the Dec. 10-11 outbreak was extreme and far-reaching.
Tiny changes, like a butterfly’s wing flapping, can be amplified downstream in a chaotic system. Catherine Falls Commercial/Moment via Getty Images

What is chaos? A complex systems scientist explains

Part of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for work modeling Earth’s climate using its chaotic, complex weather. To scientists, chaos lies in the gray zone between randomness and predictability.
Lightning during a monsoon storm in southern Arizona, Saguaro National Park. Pete Gregoire, NOAA

Monsoons make deserts bloom in the US Southwest, but climate change is making these summer rainfalls more extreme and erratic

Monsoons are weather patterns that bring thunderstorms and heavy rains to hot, dry areas when warm, moist ocean air moves inland. They’re challenging to forecast, especially in a changing climate.
Parts of Lake Elsinore, California, were overrun with muddy floodwater after a storm hit the Holy Fire burn scar in 2018. Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/Digital First Media/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images

Wildfire burn scars can intensify and even create thunderstorms that lead to catastrophic flooding – here’s how it works

An atmospheric scientist and sailplane pilot describes why large areas of burned land can produce clouds and rainstorms.
Six-year-old Makai'ryn Terrio, centre, cools off with his brothers as they play in water fountains in Montréal. The city had its hottest August on record. The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes

What climate change means for southern Ontario and Québec

Southern Québec is warming twice as rapidly as the rest of the world due to the progressive loss of snow cover. An average annual warming of 3 C to 6 C is expected by the end of the century.

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