Hurricane Warning for Florida; Keys Economy Already Hit With tropical storm Fay strengthening, hurricane conditions are expected for much of Florida. In the Keys, though, Fay is already forcing a gloomy economic forecast.

Extreme Heat Threatens In Climate Forecast Within the century, afternoon highs may reach temperatures that are only found today in the world's hottest deserts, says a new study. Those least able to deal with the increase in extreme heat waves - the world's poor - will be hit the hardest.

'Fay' expected to become hurricane over Cuba Tropical storm Fay dumped heavy rains on the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Saturday, leaving two people dead and four missing, as US weather experts forecast the system will strengthen to hurricane force as it approaches Cuba.

Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast - August 15-17, 2008 Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Heads up to observers in most of Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa and South America for Saturday night's partial lunar eclipse. For everyone else, be sure to keep a watch on western ecliptic plane as Mercury, Venus and Saturn join together for a dazzling weekend show! Although the Moon, will [...]

The Chinese "Weather Manipulation Missile" Olympics One thing is for certain, the Chinese cannot be accused of being subtle when it comes to insuring good weather for the biggest party on Earth. Sounding like a military operation, the Chinese government authorized the use of 1,104 cloud seeding missile launches from 4:00-11:39pm on Friday night to remove the threat of rain ahead [...]

How pollution influences the weekend weather The effects of weekday emissions differ from country to country.

Olympics begin, Beijing breathes sigh of relief... [60-Second Science Blog] ...if not clean air. Smog continues to blanket the capital city, thanks to pollution from cars, illegal factories and uncooperative weather. [More]

Midge-hunting scientists tackle spread of devastating bluetongue virus Scientists at the BBSRC-funded Institute for Animal Health (IAH) are stepping up the battle against the devastating and economically damaging bluetongue virus. By combining ingenious ways to trap and monitor midges with cutting edge computer modelling and weather predictions the IAH team are gaining an understanding of how the insects spread the disease so that they can improve surveillance methods and advise farmers how and when to protect their animals.

Colour-changing crystal could forecast bomb trauma Troops are returning from war with subtle brain injuries - measuring the blasts they are exposed to could tell medics who needs special attention

US experts predict more active hurricane season US weather experts raised their predictions for this year's Atlantic hurricane season on Tuesday, warning that warmer waters could whip up 17 tropical storms including nine that will grow into hurricanes.

Software predicts where El Niño will strike next A program that tracks the subtler effects of the destructive El Niño weather systems could improve forecasts

WeekEnd SkyWatcher's Forecast: August 1-3, 2008 Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for today's eclipse? Be sure to follow Ian's earlier instructions this week and catch the action for yourself! When the Sun is gone at last, then let's continue through the New Moon weekend with our globular cluster studies and we'll take a look at some of [...]

Friday's remote solar eclipse will be on Internet (AP) -- A total solar eclipse will darken some of Earth's skies on Friday, but geography, weather, the economy and even the Olympics are combining to make it a hard and expensive for people to see it.

Typhoon hits Taiwan, markets closed Monday TAIPEI (Reuters) - A typhoon packing wind gusts of up to 191 kph and forecast to dump up to a metre of rain in places was on course to hit Taiwan on Monday morning, prompting cancellation of work and market closures.

Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast: July 25-27, 2008 Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Now that the Moon is gone from the early evening skies and I'm back from that soul vacation, tracing my way across the constellations it's time to break out binoculars and telescopes and enjoy some of the summer's finest globular clusters - both easy and challenging. For everyone, it's also time [...]

Interview: Extreme virus hunter Virologist Claire Evans reveals how marine viruses exert a huge influence on food chains and can even influence the weather

Arctic Holds 3 Years of Oil Enough oil is believed to lie under the rapidly thawing Arctic to last the world 3 years, Reuters reports. The USGS released a forecast yesterday estimating the region has 90 billion recoverable barrels of oil and vast natural gas reserves. The agency's director said the information was vital in order to weigh the potential destruction caused by drilling versus the benefits.

ENVIRONMENT PHOTOS WEEKLY: Tropical Storm Dolly, More Lightning crackles, a storm makes its power felt, and more in our new weekly roundup of weather shots, natural disaster images, and other nature news photos.

Preemptive Strike Against Mindless Mistakes [Scientific American Magazine] Everyone has had the mindless slipup during a monotonous task. A lapse in concentration or brain activity, however, is not the sole culprit for that slip. In fact, activity patterns occurring in a set of brain regions associated with maintaining task effort can be used to forecast flawed behavior up to 30 seconds before it occurs, possibly preventing the imminent errors. Researchers at the University of Bergen in Norway used functional MRI to scan the brains of individuals performing a simple tedious task--in this case, determining the correct directions of arrows on a computer screen. Activity in the brain's task-performing network decreased before a mistake occurred, and once the individuals detected their mistake, they reengaged, resetting the activity pattern. According to lead researcher Tom Eichele, the next step in predicting mind­less errors will be through the use of electroencephalography, a technology that is portable and wireless and can make the predictions more practically applicable. The study appears in the April 22 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. [More]

Scientists test system to forecast flash floods along Colorado's front range People living near vulnerable creeks and rivers along Colorado's Front Range may soon get advance notice of potentially deadly floods, thanks to a new forecasting system being tested this summer by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo.

NSF awards grant to track 'space weather' in Earth's near-space environment Global and real-time "space weather" observations of near-Earth space--and the solar storms that can knock out electric power grids--is about to happen for the first time, thanks to funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Explosive Eruption Of Okmok Volcano In Alaska Okmok Volcano in Alaska continues to produce explosions and ash plumes through a newly created vent and poses hazards to air travel in the area. Scientists are using a combination of seismic and GPS instruments on the ground and weather and radar satellites in space to track the progress of the eruption. Human visual observations are limited because airborne ash obscures a view of what is happening inside the volcano's 6-mile-diameter caldera and the area is too hazardous to enter.

NASA Mission To Be Crystal Ball Into Oceans' Future, Mirror To The Past Imagine the lives that could be saved from flash floods and drought, the millions of dollars in fuel costs that could be avoided for fishing vessels, and the homes that could be spared from the effects of coastline erosion if only scientists could more accurately predict the dynamics of Earth's often unpredictable oceans. Armed with increasingly more accurate forecasts, weather services in countries across the globe are improving time-sensitive warnings of cyclones, flooding and high sea winds, as well as information about when it's safe to scuba dive, sail, or fish 48 kilometers (30 miles) or more beyond coastlines.

NASA Works to Improve Short-term Weather Forecasts NASA scientists are using an infra-red sounder in space to improve short-term weather forecasting.

All Terrain Vehicles: Gear Up Before Revving Up ATVs Whether on vacation or out for recreation, many adults and children are hopping on ATVs for some warm weather fun. But ATVs are not toys.

Bees go 'off-color' when they are sickly Bumble-bees go 'off colour' and can't remember which flowers have the most nectar when they are feeling under the weather, a new study from the University of Leicester reveals.

Earth's hum predicts quake danger spots Ocean waves create a constant seismic background noise that can be used to forecast how destructive quakes will be

Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast: July 11-13, 2008 Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Our weekend begins with one very hot look at a very cool area of the Moon - the lunar poles. Why is finding ice just so important? Hang on to your eyepiece because we'll continue this lunar expedition with some mountain climbing and a look at the big lunar [...]

India's Infosys beats expectations with 20.7 percent profit growth Indian software giant Infosys Technologies reported a forecast-beating first quarter net profit jump of 20.7 percent Friday, soothing some concerns about the impact of a global economic slowdown.

Satellite View Of Cloud Tops Might Warn Of Storms For three years, a new way to use data collected by NOAA weather satellites has been giving North Alabama short-term warnings of "pop-up" thunderstorms. This new computer program is now spreading to other parts of the U.S. and the world. Later this summer a version of the new weather program will begin forecasting storms throughout Central America, Southern Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

NIST assists in solar stake-out to improve space weather forecasts The sun is about to undergo unremitting scrutiny. About six times each minute of every hour for at least five years, a soon-to-be launched NASA satellite will measure the sun's quirky-and sometimes stormy-output of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light. To ensure that this solar stake-out yields data useful for understanding the weather in space and its earthly consequences, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology are helping a NASA team prepare for annual rocket-borne check-ups of key instruments aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

Solar Stake-out To Improve Space Weather Forecasts About six times each minute for at least five years, a soon-to-be launched NASA satellite will measure the sun's quirky, occasionally violent, output of extreme ultraviolet light. To ensure that this solar stake-out yields data useful for understanding the weather in space and its earthly consequences, researchers are helping a NASA team prepare for annual rocket-borne check-ups of key instruments aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Satellite view of cloud tops might warn of storms brewing For three years a new way to use data collected by NOAA weather satellites has been giving North Alabama short-term warnings of "pop-up" thunderstorms.

Updates: Whatever Happened to Protecting Cells from Radiation? [Scientific American Magazine] Ozone Recovery, Warmer AntarcticaThe Antarctic ozone hole that forms every spring has kept that continent's interior cold even as the rest of the world has warmed over the past few decades [see "A Push from Above"; SciAm, August 2002]. Thanks to the global ban on chlorofluorocarbons, stratospheric ozone levels there are slowly recovering. A repaired hole, however, could speed Antarctic ice melting and change weather patterns, according to a computer model by Judith Perlwitz of the University of Colorado at Boulder and her colleagues. With more ozone, the lower stratosphere would absorb more ultraviolet light and warm up by as much as nine degrees Celsius. That in turn would break down circulation patterns that trap cold air over Antarctica's interior, making the continent heat up. The changed patterns would also make Australia warmer and drier, and South America could get wetter. Such ozone details may need to be worked into global climate models, most of which have neither incorporated such effects nor included enough of the stratosphere. The journal Geophysical Research Letters published the study on April 26. [More]

WeekEnd SkyWatcher's Forecast: July 4 - 6, 2008 Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! If you're enjoying a holiday weekend where you live, then start the fireworks off as we begin by remembering Deep Impact and journey towards a nearby star approaching the supernova phase. As things heat up towards one of the most spectacular conjunctions of the year, we'll also take a look at [...]

New Wind Measurement Technology May Help Olympic Sailing, Aviation and Weather Forecasting A team of researchers at the Ocean University of China has developed and tested a mobile lidar (light detection and ranging) station that can accurately measure wind speed and direction over large areas in real time -- an application useful for aviation safety, weather forecasting and sports.

New technology may help Olympic sailing A team of researchers at the Ocean University of China has developed and tested a mobile lidar (light detection and ranging) station that can accurately measure wind speed and direction over large areas in real time -- an application useful for aviation safety, weather forecasting and sports.

Aging Weather Radar System Gets Makeover An effort is underway to replace aging equipment of the national weather system.

The Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast: June 27-29, 2008 Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! It's that time again and darker skies are in our favor for this weekend. Are you working towards Astronomical League studies? Then tag along as we seek out one of the most difficult of all targets - Palomar 5. But don't despair - there's just slightly easier ones [...]

ESA satellite assesses damage of Norway's largest fire Following the extremely hot weather conditions hitting Europe, Norway experienced its biggest forest fire in the last half century earlier this month. Envisat satellite images were used in the fire's aftermath to get an overview of the damaged area for authorities and insurance companies.