First Alert Weather Insider

Across the nation, the top 1% of extreme precipitation days have become, and will continue to become, more extreme. The areas that have seen some of the highest increases in precipitation extremes are the Northeast and Midwest. Warmer temperatures can hold more moisture. This means that more precipitation will fall over most places. This also

After strong winds and/or storm damage is reported to the National Weather Service, a team is dispatched to survey the area. The teams will then assess the damage and determine if a tornado can be confirmed as well as its potential rating. Credit: Canva.com The Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale works by inferring tornadic wind speeds

Between April 25th and 28th of 2011, more than 300 tornadoes touched down, leading to the deaths of over 300 people and causing more than 10 billion dollars in damage. The most infamous day of this event was April 27th. That day saw more than 100 tornadoes touch down with more than 60 in Alabama

A new report from Climate Central has found that every single state across the nation has experienced warming since the first Earth Day back in 1970. To be more precise, 237 of the 241 cities analyzed have seen warming. That’s more than 98 percent! Here in the desert, we have seen about 2 degrees of Earth

The Storm Prediction Center is a branch of the National Weather Service that focuses on forecasting severe weather (severe thunderstorms, hail, tornadoes, strong winds, etc.). For the second day in a row, they have issued a moderate risk of severe weather for parts of the country. This represents a level 4 out of 5. The

Tsunamis are a powerful and extremely destructive force of nature. They occur when a section of ocean water is displaced. The two most common ways this can happen is by an earthquake or a massive landslide into the ocean. This essentially forms a giant ripple in the ocean which can travel hundreds or even thousands

Over the weekend, the Space Weather Prediction Center issued a Geomagnetic Storm Watch for March 24th and 25th. This comes after a coronal mass ejection (CME for short) was detected. Credit: NASA JPL A CME is a large ejection of plasma and charged particles from the sun’s corona – its outermost layer. If Earth happens

Across the US, the length of the growing season, and thus the length of allergy season is getting longer. 164 of the 197 locations analyzed have seen a longer freeze-free season by an average of 19 days. However, this is just an average. Some places, like Reno, NV, have seen an increase of more than

Now that spring is in season, it’s time for many people to go through all the motions of spring cleaning. Part of that includes the exterior of your home. As fire season approaches, there are a number of things you can do to help lower the risk of fires at home and in nature. Some

The Climate Prediction Center, a branch of the National Weather Service, issues periodic updates on El Niño conditions in the equatorial Pacific. As a reminder, El Niño is just one phase of a larger cycle called ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation). We have been in El Nino conditions since the late spring/early summer of 2023,

Most weather patterns are quite transient and don’t stick around for very long. But sometimes a weather pattern can form which serves as a block and can stick around for a few days or more. There are three main types of blocking patterns. The first is called a blocking high and is most common in

A new report from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has found that the 2023-2024 meteorological winter was the warmest on record for the continental United States. As a reminder, meteorological winter runs from December through February. The average temperature for the season was 37.6°F – 5.4° above average. This was the warmest winter on

Spring is the time of year when the weather starts to warm back up from winter. But spring now is significantly warmer than it was 50 years ago. The map below shows the average spring warming across the nation from 1970 to now. Nearly every inch of the country, minus the northern plains and northern

A large winter storm will be impacting the west coast as we approach this weekend. There are multiple Winter Storm and Blizzard Warnings already in place throughout Northern California. The Blizzard Warnings are mainly along the Sierra Nevada mountains. Up to several feet of snow is expected for many areas. Just like a hurricane, there

The weather can affect people in many ways. For some, their joints start to hurt when some unsettled weather moves in. This is because of low pressure. As the atmospheric pressure falls over a given area, it can cause the muscles, tendons, and other soft tissues to expand. This puts excess pressure on our joints,

The AMOC, or Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, is a critical part of the global ocean circulation. It helps transport heat and minerals across the Atlantic. The circulation is driven by differences in salinity (salt content) in the water. However, as more ice melts across the planet, especially in the Arctic, fresh water is released. This