Last week, the European Space Agency released a curious photo captured by the Mars Express orbiter of a 930-mile-long cloud formation spilling out of the massive, 12-mile-high Arsia Mons volcano on Mars—a phenomena that has been observed for weeks straight. It certainly gave every superficial appearance that the volcano was about to blow, though that would be curious, as the estimated date of its last eruption was about 50 million years ago. Read More >>

As if the devastating effects of bombs dropped on European cities during the Second World War weren’t terrible enough, a surprising new study shows that the shockwaves produced by these bombing raids reached the edge of space, temporarily weakening the Earth’s ionosphere. Read More >>

The pace at which hurricanes move across the planet is slowing, according to new research. This suggests Hurricane Harvey, which stalled over Texas last summer, may not have been an anomaly, and that highly destructive, slow-moving tropical storms are becoming more common. Read More >>

At 78 feet tall, and churned by a fierce storm, it’s the largest wave ever recorded in the southern hemisphere, New Zealand scientists report. Read More >>

The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season was brutal, featuring strong weather systems that morphed into severe and treacherous hurricanes in a remarkably short period of time. This phenomenon, known as rapid intensification, is now happening with greater ferocity than it did three decades ago, according to new research. Read More >>

China’s state-owned aerospace corporation is embarking on a plan that would see tens of thousands of fuel-burning, cloud-seeding chambers dispersed across the Tibetan Plateau in an attempt to increase rainfall in the region. Read More >>

A new simulation produced by NASA’s Data Visualisation Studio packs four months of swirling atmospheric activity into a two minute clip that reminds us how unrelenting this past hurricane season really was. Read More >>

Meteorologists were at a loss for words yesterday as Hurricane Irma intensified into a enormous, record-smashing Category 5. Packing “catastrophic” and “life-threatening” winds of 185 miles per hour (300 km/h), the storm now bearing down on Puerto Rico and the US Virgin islands is officially the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded north of the Caribbean and east of Florida. But how did it get to be such a monster? Read More >>

For the first time ever, scientists have captured high-speed footage of lightning striking a building. It’s dramatic as hell, but the video could also change the way lightning rods are used to protect buildings. Read More >>

Several states across the American Midwest are experiencing intensive flooding in the wake of unusually vigorous storm system that passed through earlier in the week. Images taken from above and on the ground show the extent of the record-breaking floods, which now threaten areas downstream. Read More >>

Around 25,000 people living in north Queensland are being asked to flee as a powerful cyclone is set to make landfall. Tropical storm Debbie is expected to hit the coastline tomorrow with 170 mile-per-hour gusts and storm surges as high as eight feet. Read More >>

Using a powerful supercomputer, meteorologists have simulated the “El Reno” tornado—a category 5 storm that swept through Oklahoma on May 24, 2011. Read More >>

The Pineapple Express has been wreaking havoc across much of California over the past few months, delivering unusually high amounts of rain and threatening the state with floods and landslides. A dramatic new satellite image shows this “atmospheric river” as it extends from Hawaii to the US West Coast. Read More >>

Parts of eastern and central Australia are in the midst of a horrific heatwave, with temperatures reaching as high as 116 degrees F (46 degrees C). Alarmingly, the record-setting conditions are expected to worsen over the coming weekend. While it’s always hard to tie individual meteorological events to climate change, one can’t help but consider the role our ever-warming atmosphere is playing. Read More >>