Science
Explore the science behind weather forecasting — meteorology research, atmospheric phenomena, climate modeling and advances in prediction accuracy.
Cooling the Concrete: How Cities Are Fighting the Urban Heat Island
Cities run hotter than their surroundings because dark, dense, paved surfaces absorb and trap heat. Reflective materials and large-scale greenery can measurably cool them — but the honest, measured figures are around 2°C of air cooling, not the uniform numbers often quoted. A look at Los Angeles, Medellín, Singapore and more.
Flash Droughts: When Drought Arrives in Weeks, Not Months
A flash drought intensifies over just a few weeks, driven by heat and air so dry it pulls moisture from soil and plants. Across most of the world's land regions droughts are arriving faster. The 2012 US flash drought caused around $30 billion in losses and cut the corn yield by about a quarter.
Noctilucent Clouds: The Glowing Clouds at the Edge of Space
Noctilucent clouds form 76–85 km up, from ice crystals freezing onto meteor dust in air colder than −120°C, and glow because they are lit from below the horizon after dusk. The leading idea for why they are spreading to lower latitudes ties them to rising water vapour from methane — but the climate link is not yet settled.
The Heat Dome: How a Lid of High Pressure Locks In Deadly Heat
A heat dome is a persistent high-pressure ridge that traps heat over a region for days or weeks. In 2021 it pushed Lytton, Canada, to a record 49.6°C; attribution found that event virtually impossible without climate change. We explain the omega-block mechanism and the 2024 South Asian extremes.
Lightning Superbolts: The Sky's Rarest, Most Extreme Strikes
Superbolts are the most extreme lightning strokes on Earth — up to a thousand times brighter than an average stroke. They cluster over the northeast Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Andes, and peak in winter over the open sea, the mirror image of ordinary lightning.
Holding Back the Sea: The Engineering Fight to Save Historic Cities
Global sea level is now rising about 4.5 mm a year and accelerating. Venice's MOSE barrier has been raised around 100 times since 2020; New York is building a 1.45-billion-dollar coastal defence. The front lines of keeping historic cities above water.
Why Your Flight Is Getting Bumpier: The Jet Stream and Clear-Air Turbulence
Severe clear-air turbulence over the North Atlantic rose by around 55% between 1979 and 2020, driven by increasing wind shear in a warming atmosphere — and projections suggest it could double or triple by mid-century.
Last-Chance Tourism: The Race to See Coral Reefs Before They Bleach
The fourth global coral bleaching event, declared in 2024 and the most extensive on record, has exposed over 80% of the world's reef area to bleaching-level heat. The painful paradox of travelling to witness ecosystems our travel is helping to change.
Snow on Demand: How Artificial Snow Is Saving — and Straining — the Alps
Artificial snow now covers roughly 90% of Italy's pistes and three-quarters of Austria's. It keeps low and mid-altitude resorts open, but at a steep cost in water and electricity — and it cannot save the lowest resorts, which are already closing.
Microplastics in the Clouds: A New Atmospheric Frontier
From Mt Fuji to Mt Tai to the French Pyrenees, microplastics have been found in cloud water at concentrations of up to 463 particles per litre. Laboratory work confirms they nucleate both droplets and ice crystals. The signature is small, consistent, and growing with atmospheric ageing.
Sponge Cities at the Edge: Shanghai, Zhengzhou and the 1-in-30 Year Ceiling
China launched the Sponge City Initiative in 2015 with a 2030 target of 80% of urban land absorbing 70% of rainfall. The 2021 Zhengzhou flood showed the design ceiling. Shanghai's Lingang passed its 2024 typhoon test — but no city has built drainage for what climate change is now producing.
The Desalination Boom and the Brine It Leaves Behind
Global desalination has grown 40% since 2020. For every cubic metre of fresh water, 1.5 cubic metres of hyper-saline brine returns to the sea — destroying seagrass meadows and creating localised dead zones. Can circular-economy lithium extraction close the loop?
Solar Cycle 25 Peaks: How Sunspots Threaten Modern Infrastructure in 2026
The Sun's maximum is running 31% more active than predicted. From a $565M farming disruption to the prospect of a $2.6 trillion grid event, the modern world has built its complexity on the temperament of a star.
South Asia Pre-Monsoon Heat Pushes Delhi and Lahore to 42C in May 2026
A pre-monsoon heat dome has locked the Indo-Gangetic Plain into punishing 42C afternoons, with Delhi and Lahore baking under cloudless skies while Guangzhou climbs to 36C and Dhaka faces hail-bearing thunderstorms. Forecasters say relief depends on a monsoon onset still two weeks away.
Methane's Ticking Clock: What Happens as Permafrost Thaws Across Siberia and the Arctic
1,500 gigatonnes of carbon locked in Northern Hemisphere permafrost — twice the atmosphere's total. As the Arctic warms 4× faster than the global average, the ground is thawing and the methane is escaping. Inside the feedback that climate scientists watch most closely.
The Jet Stream Disruption: Why 'Crazy' Air Currents Now Cause Extreme Flight Turbulence
Severe clear-air turbulence on commercial flights has more than doubled since 2010. The polar jet stream is weakening as the Arctic warms 4× faster than the global average — and aviation is paying the price. Inside the atmospheric instability reshaping flight routes and surface weather.
The Sahara Dust Forecast: When Greek and Italian Skies Turn Orange
Saharan dust events affecting the Mediterranean grew tenfold in 30 years. Forecasts (CAMS, MERRA-2) give 2-3 day warning. Athens, Rome, Madrid each see ~10-25 dust days annually. The atmospheric science, the health impact, and the dramatic photographs.
Microclimates of the Greek Islands: Why Mykonos Runs 5°C Hotter Than Sifnos in August
The Aegean has one weather system. The islands have many. Mykonos and Naxos are reliably hotter and windier than Sifnos and Folegandros. Santorini's caldera produces its own heat anomaly. The right choice can be 5°C cooler.