Comprehensive weather insights help safeguard your operations and drive confident decisions to make everyday mining operations as safe and efficient as possible.Damage is one of the unfortunate outcomes of storms. In some cases, it is not always obvious whether or not a downburst or a tornado occured. In other cases, damage patterns make it quite clear as to what event caused the destruction. Air flow converges into a tornado, therefore debris points inward along the path. Debris patterns associated with a tornado
Category: Weather
What is an Aquifer and How does it Work?
We often hear about aquifers and how wells are drawing water out of them. Are we draining them or do they refill? Aquifers come in different types and have various ways of distributing water. First things first, an aquifer is not an underground lake or river. There is not a huge chasm under your feet
Depleting Aquifers: Will They Refill?
We often hear about aquifers and how wells are drawing water out of them. Are we draining them or do they refill? Aquifers come in different types and have various ways of distributing water. First things first, an aquifer is not an underground lake or river. There is not a huge chasm under your feet
The Destructive Power of Lightning
A thunderstorm is brewing. Suddenly there is a flash and bang! Loud thunder rumbles all around you. I hope you were inside, because lightning is extremely dangerous. In the US, lightning strikes about 25 million times a year. At five times hotter than the sun, it can cause a great amount of damage. Around 50 people
What are Troughs and Ridges
If you watch the weather on the nightly news, you may hear about troughs and ridges. Have you ever wondered what they are and why they are important? Troughs and ridges look like what you might expect; a trough is roughly U shaped. To the east of the trough, air will usually rise, allowing for
The Cone of Silence
Have you ever heard of the Cone Of Silence? I’m referring to the one that is associated to radars. It can sometimes cause issues when a strong storm passes over the radar. No, I’m not talking about the Cone of Silence from the Get Smart spy series and movie. You know, where they had the
A Brief History of Weather Radar
During World War II, radar systems were utilized to help guide various missions and track aircraft. However, at times, radar operators noticed some extraneous echoes showing up on their display. After investigating, it was discovered that the echoes operators were seeing on their display weren’t aircraft or anything related to missions, but rather interference from
Spoiler Alert: Cold Weather Doesn’t Actually Kill Bugs
Have you ever thought that the cold winter weather you were experiencing was going to be great because it would kill off <insert the bug you hate most here> and you wouldn’t have to deal with them when it warmed up? I know I’ve heard it before and I’ve heard the opposite as well. A
Snow to Liquid Ratios – How are They Calculated?
There are many challenges presented to meteorologists in forecasting snow. Some of these challenges are a result of the tools and data that we have at our disposal. Let’s look at one important aspect in forecasting snow: the snow to liquid ratio. When looking at numerical models, precipitation is forecast in liquid totals. In other words,
A “classic” El Nino winter? Not so fast my friends!
Obviously the “talk of the town” is the big El Niño and its putative impacts on global weather patterns this winter. By and large, meteorologists everywhere are advocating winter forecasts that closely match the “classic” El Nino composite. An analogy would be a football game where you have one heavily favored team (El Niño) versus