Weather & Natural Phenomena

The Beaufort Scale was developed in 1805 by Sir Francis Beaufort of the Royal Navy. It classifies wind speed from Force 0 (calm, less than 1 mph) to Force 12 (hurricane, 73+ mph).

A rainbow contains 7 colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. They always appear in this order because each color has a different wavelength of light that refracts at a slightly different angle.

A barometer measures atmospheric pressure, which is a key indicator for weather forecasting. Falling pressure often signals approaching storms, while rising pressure typically indicates fair weather.

Stratus clouds form in uniform, flat layers and often produce light drizzle or mist. The name comes from the Latin word 'stratum,' meaning a layer or sheet spread out.

Thunder is caused by the rapid expansion of air surrounding a lightning bolt. Lightning superheats the air to around 30,000 Kelvin (about 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit), causing it to expand explosively and create a shockwave we hear as thunder.

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale rates tornado intensity from EF0 (65-85 mph winds) to EF5 (over 200 mph winds). It was developed by Dr. Tetsuya Theodore Fujita at the University of Chicago and updated in 2007.

The Ring of Fire is a 25,000-mile horseshoe-shaped zone around the Pacific Ocean where about 75% of the world's volcanoes are found and roughly 90% of earthquakes occur, due to the movement of tectonic plates.

The eye of a hurricane is a calm, often clear area at the center, typically 20-40 miles in diameter. It is surrounded by the eyewall, which contains the storm's most intense winds and heaviest rainfall.

The aurora borealis occurs when charged particles from the Sun (solar wind) collide with gases in Earth's atmosphere, guided by Earth's magnetic field toward the poles. Oxygen produces green and red light, while nitrogen creates blue and purple hues.

The Richter Scale, developed in 1935 by Charles F. Richter, measures earthquake magnitude on a logarithmic scale. Each whole number increase represents roughly 31.6 times more energy released. Scientists now primarily use the Moment Magnitude Scale for large earthquakes.

Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, causing catastrophic flooding in New Orleans when the levee system failed. It was one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters in U.S. history, causing over 1,800 deaths.

A tsunami is a series of enormous waves generated by sudden displacement of the ocean floor, usually from earthquakes. The word comes from the Japanese words 'tsu' (harbor) and 'nami' (wave). In open ocean, tsunamis can travel over 500 mph.

Texas records the most tornadoes of any U.S. state, averaging around 150 per year, due to its large size and location where warm Gulf air meets cool northern air. 'Tornado Alley' stretches across several Great Plains states, but Texas leads in total count.

The eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia on August 27, 1883, produced the loudest sound in recorded history, heard as far as Australia and Rodrigues Island near Mauritius. It generated tsunamis up to 120 feet tall and ejected so much ash that global temperatures dropped.

Cirrus clouds form above 20,000 feet where temperatures are below freezing, so they are composed entirely of ice crystals. Their thin, wispy appearance comes from the Latin word 'cirrus' meaning a curl of hair. While they usually indicate fair weather, thickening cirrus clouds can signal an approaching warm front.