Keith Kloor

Collide-a-Scape

Cramming for a Column

Spring Showers

Ah, springtime: The sun is finally out, birds are chirping, buds are blooming — and your plans are likely getting rained on. Here’s why the onset of spring is followed by months of rain.

Why Does It Rain So Much in Spring?

A giant cluster of thunderstorms, known as a Mesoscale Convective System, or MCS, as seen on April 29, 2020, by the GOES-16 weather satellite. (Credit: RAMMB/CIRA)

Mesoscale Convective System - CIRA

As lightning crackled in the clouds, the GOES-16 weather satellite watched all the violent action from 22,000 miles away.

Monster Thunderstorm Cluster Charging from Kansas to Texas is Captured in Astonishing Satellite Views

Flooding along the Mississippi River and surrounding water bodies is evident in this false-color image acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite on Feb. 27, 2020. (Credit: NASA Earth Observatory, modified by Tom Yulsman)

Mississippi River Flooding

Two months of heavy rains — part of a pattern that spawned Tennessee’s deadly tornadoes — have caused misery across the South.

Images From Space Reveal the Dramatic Extent of Flooding in the Mississippi Valley

Bushfires near Batemans Bay, New South Wales, Australia, December 31st, 2019. (Source: Modified Copernicus Sentinel data [2019], processed by Pierre Markuse)

Australian Bushfires Seen From Space

The brutal heat and high winds whipped up already fierce wildfires, producing giant fire clouds. Here is what it has looked like from space.

As Bushfires Blaze On, Parts of Australia Broil With the Highest Temperatures on Earth

EF3 tornado from an 2017 tornado outbreak near Washburn, Illinois. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Washburn Tornado 2017 - Wikimedia

Natural disasters come with a lot of destructive energy.

Dealing with the Hazards from Tornadoes and Eruptions

Storm Cell - Tom Yulsman

And the stew is now boiling more vigorously: Heavy precipitation events have grown stronger and more frequent over the long run.

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