Bundle Up for Big Winter Weather❄️
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Season 2: Episode 59 Description
In today's episode: ❄️ We're bundling up and taking a look at Big. Winter. Weather. 🥶 Correspondent Sarah Namias joins us to break down some of the strange weather we've already seen this winter. 🏂 Did you know there's a snow lab that's been tracking snowfall for over 100 years?🗞️ In the news: Baseball excitement and a resourceful badger. ⛄ And, test your winter weather knowledge on today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources
This spot on Donner Summit is key to state’s water future (sfgate.com)
What is the difference between freezing rain, sleet, snow, hail and graupel? | AccuWeather
Record Setting Hail Event in Vivian, South Dakota on July 23, 2010 (weather.gov)
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TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:02
Snowstorms, blizzards, cold fronts, and it's only January. We are bundling up and taking a look at big winter weather. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Tuesday, January 18th. And this is the Ten News.
Various Voices 0:23
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:31
From drivers stranded in the snow in Virginia to record-breaking snow in California, winter weather has hit us from coast to coast. Ten News correspondent Sarah Namias is here with an update about what's in store for the rest of the winter.
Sarah Namias 0:50
Mother Nature has been putting on quite a show in recent weeks. Big weather events have been causing some big problems and some unusual phenomena as well. We typically think of thunderstorms as something that can ruin a perfect beach day in the summer. But it turns out that thunderstorms can happen in the winter two people in the Pacific Northwest had a front-row seat to the rare phenomenon known as thundersnow. Thundersnow can happen during a winter storm when cold snow and warmer sleep high in the clouds collide. That collision of cold air on top of warm air and moisture can cause static charges. and wallah. With enough static charge. Lightning is created. Pretty neat if you asked me, but make sure you follow the same safety rules in Thundersnow that you would in any summer thunderstorm. Okay. Meanwhile, in the mid-Atlantic, a major snowstorm caused a huge pileup of traffic on Interstate 95 in Virginia. Hundreds of people were stranded in their cars overnight, as snow meet for treacherous travel conditions. A good reminder to always pack extra snacks for the road. After leaving its mess in Virginia, the weather system marched its way to the Northeast, where people hunker down for a possible bomb cyclone. sound like something out of a sci-fi flick. A bomb cyclone is a weather event that can happen when a cold air mass collides with a warm air mass such as air over warm ocean waters, it can lead to a rapidly strengthening weather system that can feel like a winter hurricane. Thankfully, the East Coast dodged a bullet this time as the storm didn't quite hit the criteria for a bomb cyclone. But many areas did get walloped with a pretty hefty snowstorm. And if you're not shivering in your boots just yet, listen to this. If you live in the Midwest or along the east coast, you might be paying close attention to the wind chill this week. According to the National Weather Service, brutally cold air blasting New England in recent days can be traced to Alaska. Why you hear that right all the way from Alaska. The frigid airmass then moved its way through Canada and across the country to the northeast, bringing the coldest weather in three years to cities like New York and Boston. With temperatures in the single digits. The Windchill in some places fell well below zero. So what is Windchill Exactly? The Windchill or feels like temperature, as it's sometimes called, is essentially how cold it feels on your skin when the wind is factored in. Because the wind blows away the thin layer of warm air that sits right above your skin. Whoa, the stronger the wind, the more heat your body loses and the colder it will feel. When the Winds are light, it will feel closer to the actual air temperature. So what's behind this bout of wild weather. Scientists say our warming planet is the driving factor and that severe weather could be here to stay. So make sure to have some tasty snacks and warm boots on hand and keep your eye on the sky.
Bethany Van Delft 4:32
Thanks, Sarah. Turn up the heat! More frequent hurricanes and wildfires, more severe droughts, and deadly tornadoes. Big weather events are important for scientists trying to understand Earth's climate. But the best way to know what's going to happen in the future is to look at changes in the weather over a long, long time. Did you know that there's a small cabin in the woods that's been tracking snowfall for over 100 years? No way. We found out about it. Thanks to Julie Brown's article in SF Gate. The snow lab on Donner summit in California is helping scientists understand climate change. Every morning at 8 am, snow researcher Andrew Swartz steps outside and measures how deep the snow is. Sometimes when there's lots of snow, he has to go in and out through the window on the top floor. Crazy, I know. Then he adds his measurement to a list of snow measurements that go back to the 1870s this new information isn't only helpful for skiers and snowboarders. Looking at records over many decades helps scientists see long-term changes in Earth's climate. Cool. What's that, you say? Why is it so important to know how much snow is up in the mountains, why not measure the snow somewhere, mhm, I don't know, easier to get to? Well, Donner Summit is in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and it turns out 60% of all the water in California starts to snow in the Sierras. Knowing how much snow is in the mountains can tell us how much water will be flowing down into rivers and lakes and eventually into our cup that's in splash pads in the spring. Did you know sleet, freezing rain and hail are all different? Seriously? I didn't know. Sleep is rain that freezes on the way to the ground. And freezing rain is rain that freezes once it reaches the ground. Hail forms and thunderstorms when raindrops get caught in updrafts and sent so high into the sky, they freeze. And this can happen several times to one raindrop building up layers and layers of ice. The largest hailstone ever recorded fell in South Dakota and was the size of a bowling ball. Wow. No, that's some big weather. Now let's see what else is going on. Another glass ceiling in baseball has been shattered. The New York Yankees have named Rachel Balkovec, manager of the low A Tampa Tarpons, one of their minor league teams. Rachel is the first woman to manage in the minor or major leagues. Soon you may see the faces of some famous women on the back of your quarters. The US mint started to distribute coins that honor major female figures in our country's history. Like the poet Maya Angelou, the first black woman to be depicted on the quarter. Excellent. And speaking of coins, with the help of a resourceful badger, archaeologists in the mysterious region of Spain discovered a stash of more than 200 coins left behind by the ancient Romans. It appears that the Badger exposed the coins while foraging for food. Now that's a real treasure hunter. Did you hear that? I think it's...
Various Voices 8:26
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 8:29
Trivia on the Ten. What winter weather phenomenon involves electrically charged snow crystals and tall pointy buildings? Is it a) Grauple b) thundersnow or c) ice fog? Did you get it? The answer is b) thundersnow. Thundersnow is when lightning and thunder happened during a snowstorm. Listen to that, it's become more common and scientists believe that it's because tall pointy buildings absorb electrical charges from low clouds. And if the wind is blowing just right, and there's a lot of electrically charged snow crystals in the cloud. lightning will strike we just had a lightning strike and thunder here. That's when we hear of the boom of thunder. Oh, that's a twofer. That's a twofer, baby, yes! Do you want to come to the show and ask a trivia question? Give us a call at 877-TEN-NEWS that's 877 T E N N E W S, and leave us a voicemail with your trivia question. And we might have you read it on the show. So cool. That's 877-TEN-NEWS. Times up, but before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Look out for new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is measuring snow and includes Tracey Crooks, Tessa Flannery, Pete Musto, Adam Barnard, and Nathalie Alonso. Sarah Namias contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft. And thanks for listening to the Ten News. Don't forget it's Donner Summit in California. Not Donna Summer, for you grownups.
