NWS Pago Pago forecasters (and Friends of the Blog) Jane Allen and Brayden Barton sent along some video and pictures of a significant thunderstorm that rocked the American Samoan Island of Tutuila in the hours before sunrise on Wednesday, May 20th, 2026. First, here is a video showing the intensity... Read More

Edit: NWS Honolulu Science and Operations Officer (SOO) Robert Ballard graciously provided some insight into this case, and this post has been updated with his input. Thanks, Bob!In the morning hours of 8 May 2026, some interesting low level cloud plumes appeared over or near the Hawaiian island of Oahu.... Read More

Islands in warm tropical seas can create convection through a combination of factors that work together to foster deep convection. A recent example from the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands during the day of Monday 20 April 2026 illustrates this. Guadalcanal is famous as the site of a... Read More

While it may be winter, unseasonably warm conditions on February 19 were able to support convection across portions of the midwest and into southern Ontario. Convection began firing at multiple locations, including metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri; northeastern Indiana, and southeastern Illinois. To start with, let’s look at the 1500 UTC... Read More