April 22, 2026: Happy Earth Day! The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970. The idea was conceived by then Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson and an estimated 20 million Americans participated on that first day, which was approximately 10% of the US population back then. You can read... 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
Altocumulus castellanus clouds (ACCAS) unexpectedly developed in southern Wisconsin yesterday morning, producing beautiful cloud features and eventually a severe thunderstorm. ACCAS form due to mid-level instability and manifest in towering billows that can often produce pileus clouds as they burst through a more stable layer.The rooftop cameras of the UW-AOSS building caught... Read More
5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) imagery (above) revealed the brief development of what appeared to be a standing wave cloud — caused by a vertically-propagating gravity wave — that was anchored near the north coast of Saginaw Bay, Michigan on 20 April 2026. At first glance, this author was reminded of similar-appearing standing... Read More
