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Find out what causes these deadly twisters—and how to stay safe.

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And pictures!

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Interested in extreme weather events? Then a hurricane-a swirling mass of wind, rain, thunder, and chaos-will intrigue you. Hurricanes begin over tropical and subtropical ocean water. They start when warm water, moist air, and strong winds collide and create a rotating bundle of thunderstorms and clouds. A hurricane might last a few hours or several days.

How Hurricanes Form

Some hurricanes roar onto land bringing punishing wind, torrential rain, walls of water, even tornados. The wind, rain, and water surge wreak havoc on the coastline and damage hundreds of miles inland.

Violent winds flip cars, sink boats, and rip houses apart. Hurricane winds range from 74 miles an hour to 150 ​miles an hour​ or more. Wind creates high waves and pushes the water onto shore. The water surge can be 30 feet high. That's as high as a 3-story building. Storm surges cause most of the fatalities and damage.

In addition to the storm surge, hurricanes bring rain. Lots of rain. In 2009, a storm hammered Taiwan with 114 inches of rain in only three days. Hurricane rains cause landslides, flash floods, and long-term floods.

Because meteorologists can predict and track hurricanes, people living in a hurricane's path can stay safe by advance preparation, including an evacuation plan, creating an emergency kit with food, water, and other supplies (don't forget your pets), and most importantly by listening to local authorities on the best ways to stay safe.

Eye: The eye can be 20-40 miles wide. In the eye, rather than dark clouds and rain, one might see blue sky or a starry night. It's known as the calm center of the storm.

Eyewall: The clouds that swirl around the eyehave the most intense rain and winds, sometimes as fast as 200 miles an hour.

Rain bands: The rain and wind come in heavy bursts in this region and spiral in toward the eyewall. Rain bands are the outside areas of a storm and can be found as far as a few hundred miles from the eye.

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Interested in extreme weather events? Then a hurricane-a swirling mass of wind, rain, thunder, and chaos-will intrigue you. Hurricanes begin over tropical and subtropical ocean water. They start when warm water, moist air, and strong winds collide and create a rotating bundle of thunderstorms and clouds.

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All precipitation falls through the atmosphere on its way to the Earth's . Imagine a drop or flake falling through a long tube that contains the air between the clouds and the Earth.

The air inside the imaginary tube is the atmosphere . Differences in temperatures in different parts of the atmosphere account for the differences we see between , , and .

The liquid precipitation that falls to Earth's is . can begin as , but by the time it reaches the Earth's , it has melted because the temperature closer to Earth is warmer.

If you've ever thought it strange that it's raining when the temperature outside is below , it's probably because the temperature higher up in the atmosphere is still above .

forms in clouds at temperatures below . As falls through the atmosphere , the air remains at least 32° F or colder. In order for a to reach Earth, it must remain frozen from to .

But can it be too to ? Sometimes! The colder it gets, the less water there will be in the air...and less water in the air means less chance of .

occurs when a falls through the atmosphere and warms up a bit before refreezing. The begins its journey frozen. As it passes through a thin layer of warm air in the atmosphere , it melts a bit.

It then re-enters another pocket of air before reaching the . The refreezes and becomes an pellet we call . typically bounces when it hits the ground.

follows a similar journey as , but instead of a thin pocket of warm air, falls through a larger pocket of warm air in the middle of its journey. begins as , but when it reaches the warm pocket, it melts and becomes .

Before hitting the ground, it passes through a very pocket of air, which cools it some but not enough to turn it into . Instead, when the water droplet reaches the of the Earth and comes in contact with objects (such as cars, streets, or trees), it freezes immediately and turns into .

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What's the Difference Between Snow, Sleet, and Freezing Rain?

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All precipitation falls through the atmosphere on its way to the Earth's . Imagine a drop or flake falling through a long tube that contains the air between the clouds and the Earth. The air inside the imaginary tube is the atmosphere .

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Pour a glass of and take a sip. Pretty good, isn't it? Would you believe the you're drinking has been around for millions of years? It's true!

Before any creatures were living on land, your was part of the . The we have on Earth has been here for a very, very long time, and Mother has been constantly recycling it through the .

Once is in the , it rises into the atmosphere , cools, and forms clouds through a process called condensation . If you have ever poured a cool glass of lemonade on a hot day, you have probably seen condensation in action.

The next step in the - precipitation - occurs when so much has condensed that the can no longer hold it. Clouds become heavier and heavier until eventually the falls back to the Earth in the form of precipitation . Depending on atmospheric conditions and temperatures, precipitation can arrive on Earth as , hail, sleet, freezing , or snow.

When falls back to Earth as precipitation , it ends up in rivers, lakes, oceans, swimming pools, barrels, bird baths, and lots of other places. This final step of the is called collection .

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Pour a glass of and take a sip. Pretty good, isn't it? Would you believe the you're drinking has been around for millions of years? It's true! Before any creatures were living on land, your was part of the .

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, , go away. Come again some other day. That's how we feel sometimes when all we want to do is go outside and play.

However, plays an important role in our world. It replenishes the Earth with water and helps our plants grow. Without regular rainfall, our world would be a dry, dusty place that wouldn't be any fun at all.

If you see clouds roll in on a sunny day, it could mean that is on the way. Have you ever stared at those clouds and wondered whether they hold and, if so, how much?

As it turns out, that question isn't easy to answer. Why? Clouds aren't like buckets, so they don't really "hold" water like a bucket would.

Whether you realize it or not, the air around you is filled with water. Water comes in three forms: liquid (that you drink), solid (ice) and gas (water in the air). The amount of water inside a is no different than the amount of water in the air around it.

In the air around a , water is a gas in the form of water . Inside the , cooler temperatures have transformed water into a liquid. This liquid is in the form of millions, billions or even trillions of tiny water droplets called droplets. Scientists call this process condensation .

When water in the air condenses into tiny droplets, those droplets become visible. What we see is a . Whether that liquid water will fall to the ground as depends on many factors.

droplets are very tiny and weigh very little. In a , they float with the wind or simply hang in the air. In addition, updrafts (winds that blow upward from the surface of the Earth) also help keep droplets suspended within a .

To fall to Earth, droplets have to become heavier. If they combine with other droplets or if more liquid water continues to condense out of the air, they eventually become heavy enough to form drops that fall to Earth as . The scientific word for rainfall is precipitation .

Once droplets grow into drops and fall to Earth as , it will continue to as long as conditions in the atmosphere keep causing water to condense into liquid water and grow into drops heavy enough to fall as .

So how much can a produce? This is perhaps a better question than how much a can hold. Scientists estimate that one inch of falling over an area of one square mile is equal to 17.4 million gallons of water. That much water would weigh 143 million pounds!

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go away. Come again some other day. That's how we feel sometimes when all we want to do is go outside and play. However, plays an important role in our world. It replenishes the Earth with water and helps our plants grow.

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Pow! Bam! Kaboom! No, those aren't the captions of cartoon fistfights between superheroes. Those are the sounds we often associate with the rumblings we hear overhead from the clouds that accompany thunderstorms.

Of course, when you hear , you automatically anticipate and look for what? You guessed it! ! Depending upon how close a storm is, a rumble of will usually be followed rather quickly by the next of .

But what exactly is ? Quite simply, it's a bright of electricity . can occur within a single , between clouds, and between a and the ground. The latter, often called -to-ground , is what we commonly think of as a that we see during a thunderstorm.

Small particles of ice collide within thunderclouds, causing an electric to build up. Objects on the ground, especially taller things like mountains, buildings, trees, and even people, can also build up an electric . When electrical charges coming down from clouds meet opposite electrical charges coming up from the ground, they connect and electric flows rapidly from the to the ground in what we call a or a .

You may have experienced a similar phenomenon known as electricity . If you've ever walked across a carpet and then felt a when you touched something metal, you've felt the power of an electrical discharge. That you felt was electricity moving between you and a metal object.

Although a of is only a few inches wide, it appears to be much larger to the human eye. It can also be very , even deadly.

Not only is there a great deal of electricity in a of , it's also very hot. A can generate temperatures of about 54,000º F - or about six times hotter than the surface of the Sun!

So what happens when that powerful of hits an object on Earth? In particular, what happens when strikes a living ?

Although it might seem like a foregone conclusion that a might be burned up in an instant, can actually have a variety of effects on a . What exactly happens depends upon several factors, including what kind of it is, how much it contains, the overall health of the at the time of the , and the intensity of the .

Much of the that does to trees is a result of what happens when the inside a is subjected to the super-hot temperatures caused by . A 's moist tissues often sit just below the outer layer of . This is why some strikes result in the of a appearing to in large chunks.

If the outer layer of is soaked from excessive rainfall, however, the may travel along the outside of the to the ground, resulting in little . At other times, though, intense bolts may split trees in two and cause them to burst into from the inside out.

A that has been hit by may survive intact for many years. Other trees, though, might need to be cut down if they pose a danger of falling on people or property. Some large trees have been known to have been hit by on many separate occasions.

If a struck by doesn't catch on fire and to the ground, it may live for quite a while even with extensive injuries. -damaged trees, however, will often be more susceptible to other types of , such as that from insects, disease, and .

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What Happens When Lightning Strikes a Tree?

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Pow! Bam! Kaboom! No, those aren't the captions of cartoon fistfights between superheroes. Those are the sounds we often associate with the rumblings we hear overhead from the clouds that accompany thunderstorms. Of course, when you hear , you automatically anticipate and look for what? You guessed it! !

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What would you think if you heard Opal, Andrew, Katrina, Hugo, Camille, and Irene were coming to town? Who are they? Long- relatives flying in for a family ?

Not quite! In fact, they're not even people at all. They're past hurricanes! Let's find out how these super storms are born.

Each year, as summer turns to fall, hurricanes begin to appear. These large storms usually occur in the southern Atlantic , Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, or the eastern Pacific .

Sometimes people think hurricanes are like big tornadoes. They're actually quite different, though.

While a might cover a mile or two of ground, hurricanes are huge storms that can sometimes be as large as 600 miles across. If you look at a map of the United States, you'll see that a hurricane that large would stretch from Philadelphia to Indianapolis!

Tornadoes also usually last no more than a few minutes. Hurricanes, however, can last more than a week because they travel at speeds of only 10 to 20 miles per hour as they cross the .

Hurricanes are defined by their strong winds that can blow from 75 to 200 miles per hour. Before a becomes a hurricane, it starts out as a . storms have wind speeds between 39 and 74 miles per hour.

Even though these storms are not yet hurricanes, they can still cause damage and . Once a 's wind speeds reach or exceed 75 miles per hour, the becomes classified as a hurricane.

Not all storms become hurricanes. Wonder why? The key ingredient to forming a hurricane is warm water.

During the warmer months of hurricane season, the waters in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico are the perfect temperature to create hurricanes. As warm, moist air rises from the water into the atmosphere, it creates an area of low pressure underneath.

This causes air from the surrounding areas to flow into the low pressure area. Eventually this air becomes heated and rises into the atmosphere, and the repeats itself.

In this way, hurricanes are kind of like a big engine with a constant supply of and . The "" is the cooler air that keeps the going. The "" is the warm air rising into the atmosphere.

As this continues, clouds and storms form, creating a giant, spinning .

When you look at satellite images of a hurricane, you may notice a hole at the center of the . This hole is called the " eye" of the hurricane.

As the eye passes over land, the weather becomes very calm. Once the eye passes, though, the winds begin again as the second part of the passes over.

Unfortunately, there is no way to stop a hurricane. They do tend to lose strength once they move over land.

Without warm water to continue fueling them, hurricanes will eventually diminish in size and speed until they disappear.

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There's a storm a-comin' today in Wonderopolis. Hang onto your hat!

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Each year, as the summer comes to a close, hurricanes begin to appear. Hurricanes are huge storms that can sometimes be as large as 600 miles across.

Hurricanes are defined by their extremely strong winds that can blow from 75 to 200 miles per hour. Unlike tornadoes, which usually last just a few minutes or less, hurricanes can last longer than a week.

They usually travel slowly at speeds of only 10 to 20 miles per hour as they cross the oceans. These storms usually occur in the southern Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico or the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Hurricanes occur in many parts of the world, but they're not always called "hurricanes." For those of you who like words, you may be interested to know that hurricanes that form in the western Pacific Ocean are called "typhoons."

In the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and Australia, these storms are called "cyclones." They're all the same type of storm, though.

Hurricanes only form over very warm ocean water (80° F or warmer). As their winds blow in the same direction at the same speed, hurricanes gather heat and energy from warm ocean waters. As warm seawater evaporates, it feeds the 's growing winds.

winds rotate in a counter-clockwise direction around a calm center, known as the "eye" of the . Even though the winds of a may be raging at its farthest reaches, the "eye" has only light winds and fair weather.

At sea, hurricanes present a real danger to boats. Their most destructive effects occur, however, when they reach land. Heavy rain, strong winds and huge waves have been known to cause catastrophic damage to buildings, trees and cars.

The huge waves that hurricanes push toward land are called a "storm ." Storm surges are extremely dangerous and often cause major flooding in coastal regions.

Even though hurricanes have existed for thousands of years, scientists have only studied them for about the last 100 years. Because of their massive size, only modern technology has allowed scientists to get a grasp on how hurricanes form and how they move.

Meteorologists classify hurricanes based on their wind speeds and potential for damage:

Category 1: 74 to 95 mph winds

Category 2: 96 to 110 mph winds

Category 3: 111 to 130 mph winds

Category 4: 131 to 155 mph winds

Category 5: 155+ mph winds

Recent hurricanes that have caused major damage in the United States include Ike and Katrina. Other past hurricanes have had names like Opal, Andrew and Fran. How do they get these names?

Hurricanes are given names so that meteorologists can identify them and track them across the oceans. Since there are sometimes multiple hurricanes at a particular time, naming them helps to avoid confusion.

Since 1979, the World Meteorological Organization has used six lists of names - both male and female - in rotation. Each list contains a name for each letter of the alphabet, except for Q, U and Z. The same lists are reused every six years.

Every once in a while, a will cause so much damage that its name goes down in the history books. Katrina is a recent example of such a destructive storm. When a storm is particularly bad, its name is retired, and a new name is added to the list.

Although hurricanes can form at any time, the season in the Atlantic Ocean is usually June 1 to November 30, with most hurricanes occurring in the fall months. The eastern Pacific Ocean season runs from about May 15 to November 30.

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Each year, as the summer comes to a close, hurricanes begin to appear. Hurricanes are huge storms that can sometimes be as large as 600 miles across. Hurricanes are defined by their extremely strong winds that can blow from 75 to 200 miles per hour.

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Tornadoes - sometimes called twisters - are columns of air that connect a cumulonimbus cloud with the surface of the Earth. One of the most violent of all weather phenomena, tornadoes are very dangerous and can cause massive damage.

Tornadoes come in all sorts of sizes and shapes. Most often, they take the form of a -shaped cloud with a narrow end touching the Earth. They are usually surrounded by large clouds of and dust.

Most tornadoes feature wind speeds under 110 miles per hour, span about 250 feet in width and only travel a few miles before dissipating . The largest, most destructive tornadoes, though, can boast wind speeds of more than 300 miles per hour, span more than two miles in width and remain on the ground for dozens of miles.

Weather experts use the Fujita scale to rate tornadoes based on the damage they cause. Tornadoes can receive a Fujita scale rating from F0 to F5.

For example, an F0 - the weakest possible - can damage trees but not sturdy structures. On the opposite end of the scale, an F5 - the strongest possible - can tear buildings off their foundations and even deform huge skyscrapers.

" Alley" is a term that the media and weather experts use to refer to the area of the United States where the strongest tornadoes occur most frequently. There is no official definition of Alley, but the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains is commonly considered to define the area.

The term was first used by Jennifer Wiley in 1904. The heart of Alley consists of the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, eastern South Dakota and the Colorado Eastern Plains. Although no state avoids tornadoes entirely, the strongest ones tend to happen in these areas.

Texas reports the most tornadoes annually, but Kansas and Oklahoma report more tornadoes per land area than even Texas. Florida also experiences a high number of tornadoes each year, although they tend to be weaker storms than those in Alley.

Weather experts believe that strong tornadoes occur so frequently in Alley because cold, dry air from Canada and the Rocky Mountains meets warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and hot, dry air from the Sonoran Desert, which is located in the southwestern part of the United States. When these air masses combine with atmospheric instability , they produce intense thunderstorms that spawn destructive tornadoes.

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Tornadoes - sometimes called twisters - are columns of air that connect a cumulonimbus cloud with the surface of the Earth. One of the most violent of all weather phenomena, tornadoes are very dangerous and can cause massive damage. Tornadoes come in all sorts of sizes and shapes.

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It's a cloudy day on the Kansas plains. You and your dad keep a eye on the skies as you plow the fields. You've seen clouds like these before, and you know that they can be trouble. As the afternoon fades away, you begin to see the clouds form a wall.

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Are you fascinated by those powerful, destructive storms some people call twisters? What are we talking about? Tornadoes, of course!

We don't experience tornadoes in Wonderopolis very often, but when we do, watch out! They can be violent and deadly. Although some people like to study tornadoes up close, whenever we see those clouds roll in and start twisting ominously, we head for shelter as quickly as possible.

Speaking of twisting ominously, some of our Wonder Friends have been WONDERing about how twisters . Is it always in the same ? We thought that was an excellent question, so we looked into it.

The in which a twists depends a lot upon which hemisphere you're in. In general, most tornadoes in the northern hemisphere rotate cyclonically , or counter-clockwise. Only around five percent of tornadoes in the northern hemisphere rotate clockwise, or anti- cyclonically . In the southern hemisphere , however, most tornadoes rotate clockwise.

So, the simple answer to our Wonder Friends' question is no, not all tornadoes in the same all the time. In the northern hemisphere , tornadoes occasionally rotate clockwise, or anti- cyclonically . These tornadoes tend to be water spouts, non-supercell land tornadoes, or anti-cyclonic whirls around the rim of a supercell's mesocyclone . In some extremely rare cases, meteorologists have even documented cases of both cyclonic and anti-cyclonic tornadoes at the same time under the same thunderstorm.

To understand why tornadoes usually in the same , but opposite directions in the northern vs. southern hemispheres, it's helpful to know a bit about something known as the Coriolis force or . The Coriolis can be very hard to understand, so we're going to explain it in very simple terms that are relevant to our discussion of tornadoes.

In a nutshell, the Earth's rotation around its axis causes winds in the northern hemisphere to deflect to the right, while winds in the southern hemisphere deflect to the left. This is known as the Coriolis , but it doesn't directly affect all air movement no matter how small. In general, the Coriolis only directly influences the of the Earth's biggest atmospheric and oceanographic circulation systems, such as the Gulf Stream, the jet stream, trade winds, and hurricanes.

Tornadoes are too small and begin and end too quickly to be directly influenced by the Coriolis . Instead, tornadoes tend to move in the same general of the low pressure systems that cause them. In the northern hemisphere , the low pressure systems that spawn tornadoes almost always rotate counter-clockwise because of the Coriolis , so that explains how a 's movement is indirectly affected by the Coriolis .

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Do Tornadoes Always Twist in the Same Direction?

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Are you fascinated by those powerful, destructive storms some people call twisters? What are we talking about? Tornadoes, of course! We don't experience tornadoes in Wonderopolis very often, but when we do, watch out! They can be violent and deadly.

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Today's Wonder of the Day was inspired by Aidan from WMD, IA. Aidan Wonders, " How do magnets work? " Thanks for WONDERing with us, Aidan!

Do you like to play with magnets? If you're like most kids, it can be a lot of fun to build things with magnetic toys. You probably also enjoy putting up your latest artwork or report card on the refrigerator with magnets. You may have even used magnets to learn about science in school.

But you might be surprised by how important magnets are in our daily lives. Just wait until you learn about how magnets are part of many of the things we use each day.

If you've ever played with a magnet, it was almost assuredly metal. In fact, it was probably mostly . is the best magnetic metal on Earth. There are some other metals, including , , and other rare-Earth metals, which are also magnetic.

and other magnetic metals have structures that are made up of microscopic areas called magnetic domains. You could think of an bar as being made up of millions of smaller bars, all lined up in the same direction.

Each magnetic is like a tiny magnet in itself. When these are all lined up in the same direction, electrons at the level move in the same direction to form magnetic fields that create the effects we know as magnetism. In other metals - ones we think of as non-magnetic - these domains are not lined up and simply point in directions.

Sometimes a magnet can be rubbed across a non-magnetic metal to make it magnetic. When this happens, the magnet helps to align the magnetic domains in the non-magnetic metal in the same direction, thereby making it magnetic.

The force of magnetism is concentrated around the ends - called poles - of magnets. Each magnet has two poles: the north and the south . Although they might look the same, they behave differently.

For example, poles each other. That pulling force of attraction you feel as magnets stick to each other is the north of one magnet drawing the south of another magnet toward it. Identical poles will (push away) each other. So when it comes to magnets, opposites really do !

Do you know of anything else that has north and south poles? If you said "Earth," you're right! Earth contains lots of magnetic metals that make the planet itself act like a magnet. That's why you can use a to find which way is north: the magnetic needle on a is drawn toward the magnetic North !

So are magnets just neat scientific toys? Certainly not! Magnets have thousands of uses. Some of them may surprise you. Did you realize that every electric with an electric motor uses magnets to convert electricity into motion?

Magnets hold refrigerator and cabinet doors closed. They also read and write data on your computer's hard drive. If you listen to an MP3 player through headphones, those sounds you hear are thanks to tiny magnets that turn digital music into sound. Magnets are all around you every day, and they help make your life better in many ways you probably never imagined!

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Today's Wonder of the Day was inspired by Aidan from WMD, IA. Aidan Wonders, " How do magnets work? " Thanks for WONDERing with us, Aidan! Do you like to play with magnets? If you're like most kids, it can be a lot of fun to build things with magnetic toys.

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Let's start today's Wonder of the Day with a joke. Ready? Here it is: What did the paperclip say to the magnet?

Any ideas? They said, "I'm really DRAWN to you!"

If you've ever used a magnet before, you may have seen that punchline coming. That's because magnets many objects made from metal-including paperclips, nails, keys, and many other items. You've probably been around more than a few magnets in your day. But have you ever WONDERed how they work?

Magnets are usually made of or a that has lots of in it, such as steel. They are great at attracting most metal objects. But you can hold a glass marble or plastic spoon against a magnet for as long as you like. Nothing will happen!

Much like the Earth, magnets have a pole at each end: a north pole and a south pole. You may not immediately notice the difference between a magnet's . However, they behave quite differently. If you put the pole of two magnets near each other, one of two things will happen. If the are , they will and click together. If the are the same, they will push away from one another.

It doesn't matter whether you have a rectangular-shaped bar magnet or a curved horseshoe magnet. Both behave similarly. If you have time for an experiment, place an nail on a table with a magnet. Then, slowly push the magnet toward the nail. At some point, the nail will jump and stick to the magnet. This is because of the magnetic field.

Magnetic fields are invisible that magnets. Once a magnetic object enters the field, it is either attracted to or away from the magnet.

Have you ever stuck a piece of art on a refrigerator door? If so, you already have some experience with magnetic fields. The attraction between the refrigerator door and the magnet holds the paper in place. As you may be able to guess, this means magnetic fields can actually pass through solid objects like paper.

Magnets can do so much more than just hang around on refrigerators, though. Did you know they keep the refrigerator door closed, too? You may be surprised to discover how many uses there are for magnets.

For example, magnets help with the recycling process. Recycling centers use magnets to help sort steel objects, such as tin cans, from other items. The magnet won't help pick out the soda cans, however- isn't magnetic.

Magnets can also be found inside computers, doorbells, and soda machines. They help electric can openers hold cans in place and cause compasses to point north. If you look closely, you'll discover magnets tucked inside small pockets at the bottom of most shower curtains. The magnetic attraction keeps the shower curtain inside the tub, so you don't end up with a flooded floor.

Where might you find some of the strongest magnets around? Not in a recycling center or on a refrigerator. Instead, you'll find them in hospitals.

An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine uses powerful magnets and radio waves. They give doctors a glimpse inside the human body. The strength of an MRI's magnetic field is 20,000 times stronger than that of the Earth. As you can imagine, that's one serious magnet!

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Let's start today's Wonder of the Day with a joke. Ready? Here it is: What did the paperclip say to the magnet? Any ideas? They said, "I'm really DRAWN to you!" If you've ever used a magnet before, you may have seen that punchline coming.

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Join us in Wonderopolis today as we go up, up, up to learn about what brings us down, down, down!

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Hurricanes - Learning about Hurricanes for kids and children

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Wyoming Insane Hail Storm & Funnel Cloud B-Roll

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This is a short animation that I made for my technology class.

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Hail!

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Sleet

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Snow

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Quiet Snow-Covered Lane with Falling Snow

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Floating train!

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CNN: Trains use magnets to float above rails

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Electromagnets

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nasa video shows 10 days of irma in 30 seconds - cnn video

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NASA video shows 10 days of Irma in 30 seconds - CNN Video

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NASA has released a video tracking Hurricane Irma's path over 10 days from the Atlantic.

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Lightning in Los Angeles!

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LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Lightning streaked across the skies around the Los Angeles area Friday night, creating a spectacular - but dangerous - light show just off the coast.

The National Weather Service and local fire agencies were urging people to stay inside and seek shelter, noting that lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm.

"When thunder roars, stay indoors," the Los Angeles County Fire Department tweeted.

Per @NWSLosAngeles : Numerous dangerous lightning strikes are approaching the Long Beach Area and Palos Verdes Peninsula. Stay indoors over the next few hours until these thunderstorms pass. WHEN THUNDER ROARS STAY INDOORS.
- LA County Fire Div 1 (@LACOFDDiv1) October 13, 2018

About 10,000 customers in Los Angeles were without power, according to the Department of Water and Power. Field crews were working to restore service.

Among areas that lost power were Arlington Heights, Beverly Grove, Mid City and Brentwood

There are approximately 10,000 customers without power. We apologize for the trouble. Our field crews are working hard to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. <js>
- LADWP (@LADWP) October 13, 2018

SoCal Edison also reported 421 customers without power in Long Beach, and 611 without power in Diamond Bar. It was unclear when the power would be restored for either area.

AIR7 HD caught footage of multiple lightning bolts coming down just off the coast in the Rancho Palos Verdes-San Pedro area.

Witnesses reported seeing similar displays from Orange County to Hollywood, accompanied in some areas by light rain.

Radar images showed a cluster of moisture hanging just off the shore between Avalon and Dana Point Friday night.

High school football games throughout Southern California were canceled Friday night. The sudden downpour prompted people at Fairfax High School running from the danger.

The game didn't even make it to halftime.

"We saw the lightning getting closer and closer until it was just literally right within our sight," one woman said.

Many viewers shared photos and videos of the rain and hail coming down on fields around the Southland.

At the Banc of California Stadium, the Thai soccer team, where the young boys and their soccer coach were trapped in a cave for nearly three weeks, were again trapped in a storm during the game.

Some electrical poles also caught on fire in the Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood and Bellflower area, fire officials said.

RELATED: Full weather forecast for Southern California

The forecast calls for more rain and cool temperatures around SoCal on Saturday.

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Lightning lights up SoCal skies; knocks out power in LA

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LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Lightning streaked across the skies around the Los Angeles area Friday night, creating a spectacular - but dangerous - light show just off the coast. The National Weather Service and local fire agencies were urging people to stay inside and seek shelter, noting that lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm.

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The Science of Lightning | National Geographic

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What's that strange sight high up there in the sky? It doesn't look like a bird. Could it be an airplane? Maybe it's a UFO! Nope! None of the above - it's just a cloud.

It might not just be any type of cloud, though. If it looks a bit like an unidentified flying object, chances are it's a special type of cloud called a lenticular cloud.

Lenticular clouds get their name from the fact that they're shaped like a lens or a . This is why they're also sometimes called "flying clouds" and sometimes mistaken for UFOs. Some other nicknames for lenticular clouds include "cloudships," "clouds of heaven" and "lennies." They also have a fancy scientific name: Altocumulus lenticularis.

Although lenticular clouds may look like they're from outer space, they're actually just the result of normal earthly scientific processes. Lenticular clouds are stationary clouds that form at high altitudes in the sky. They're usually aligned at a right angle (perpendicular ) to the direction of the wind.

For example, when stable humid air blows over the top of a mountain range, it often forms a group of big waves on the downwind side of the mountain range. If the temperature is low enough on the downwind side, the moisture in the air will condense to form uniquely-shaped clouds we know as lenticular clouds.

If the conditions are right, these groups of wave after wave of lenticular clouds can form what scientists call a " wave cloud." Lenticular clouds are also unique in that sometimes you may see bright colors - what scientists call - along the edges of the clouds. This can give them a definite outer space feeling!

Airplane pilots will usually try to avoid flying near lenticular clouds. The waves of air that form the clouds can cause turbulence , which means riding in an airplane near lenticular clouds can be a bouncy, scary experience.

People that fly gliders, however, love lenticular clouds. The same air currents that can make flying in an airplane scary allow gliders to sail to great heights and long distances.

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What's that strange sight high up there in the sky? It doesn't look like a bird. Could it be an airplane? Maybe it's a UFO! Nope! None of the above - it's just a cloud. It might not just be any type of cloud, though.

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Clouds Forming in the Sky - Time-lapse [1080p]