First Alert Weather Insider

The wet bulb globe temperature, or WBGT, is a fairly obscure meteorological measurement specially used to determine how safe it is for people to do activities outdoors. It is commonly used by schools and outdoor workers. It is calculated by taking measurements with three different types of thermometers: the wet bulb, the dry bulb, and

It’s that time of year when students head back to the classroom! Thanks to warming temperatures, however, it’s getting harder and harder to keep students and teachers cool in school. More energy is being used by schools to cool off their buildings. One of the ways we can calculate this is by tracking cooling degree

Hurricane Debby became the fourth named storm and the second hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season over the past weekend. It became a hurricane less than twelve hours before making landfall near Steinhatchee, Florida as a category 1 storm. The average date of formation of the second Atlantic hurricane is August 26th. It happened on

When people visit the Coachella Valley, the Salton Sea isn’t usually at the top of most people’s to-do lists… and for good reason. The Salton Sea often has a bit of an unpleasant odor. This is because of Hydrogen sulfide, a gas which is well known for giving rotten eggs their distinctive smell. As with

If there’s one thing wildfires are known for it’s heat. As fires heat up the air, it becomes less dense and will want to rise. As this happens, it has the ability to create special thunderstorms known as pyrocumulus and pyrocumulonimbus clouds (aka thunderstorms caused by fires). Fires can also influence the weather on the

There’s no easy way to put it… the planet is warming. Since the 1970s, more than 85% of the United States now experiences more extremely hot summer days. While what constitutes an extremely hot day is relative to where you are, we are seeing more and more of them. Some places, like Miami, FL now

There are a few main ingredients needed for thunderstorms to form. These ingredients are moisture, atmospheric instability, and lift. Moisture is often present in the deserts in the summer months thanks to the monsoon. Instability comes from a mix of the warm and moist air at the surface. Since warm air and moist air are

Hail is a form of frozen precipitation that falls from thunderstorms as clumps of ice. At the core of every thunderstorm is an updraft, or an area of rising warm, moist air. When this warm moist air reaches the colder levels of the atmosphere, the water vapor will condense and form clouds and rain. However,

Excessive Heat Warnings are a dime a dozen here in the Coachella Valley in the summer months. However, given that the climate varies widely from place to place, it’s up to the local National Weather Service offices to determine if an Excessive Heat Warning should be issued. They use HeatRisk to help make that call.

Dust devils are a fairly common phenomenon all over the world, but are especially common in desert areas in the warmer months. As air at the surface heats up during the day, some of the air can rise, forming a small area of low pressure. This will cause nearby air to move in to fill

As of 1:50 PM this afternoon, we are officially in the summer season! We have seasons as a result of the earth’s tilt. By definition, a solstice occurs at the point in Earth’s orbit when the planet reaches its peak tilt toward the sun. During the summer solstice, the sun appears at the highest point

Over the last few days, southern Florida has been getting pummeled by excessive amounts of rain. Some areas in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro have recorded more than 2 FEET of rain! This marks the second such flooding event in the last two years. You may remember the Fort Lauderdale floods of April 2023 where some