For the past few days, the eyes of the Philippines and Taiwan have been focused on a developing tropical system in the western Pacific. What began as a small group of convective cells northwest of Micronesia on 16 September 2025 has grown into the most intense tropical system up to... Read More

The Great Lakes have a significant amount of thermal mass, meaning it takes a long time for them to cool down as the seasons change from summer to autumn. Often during this time of year, the air overlying the lakes is warmer than the lakes themselves. As water evaporates from... Read More

Driven by a dry summer, numerous fires have been ignited in the Pacific northwest of the United States and far southwestern Canada. These fires were largely ignited by lightning from late summer storms, but continued drying in the area has both increased susceptibility to fire while also preventing rain from... Read More

Elevated smoke levels have been present in the upper Midwestern United States for well over a week, but recent synoptic-scale pattern shifts have started to bring in clearer (albeit warmer and more humid) air from the south. The following animation shows GOES-19-observed aerosol optical depth (AOD) for 1400 UTC (9:00... Read More