I am frequently asked about tornadoes in other nations. Here is one from Great Britain yesterday. Details and more photos here .

There is a place on I-10 as you drive from downtown Los Angeles to San Bernadino where the Metrolink tracks suddenly appear in the median of the freeway. Imagine the surprise the drivers who suddenly found themselves next to this giant steam locomotive.

To many, especially those that read about global warming in the media, my insistence that disasters have not increased in the global warming era seems odd, to say the least. There are two reasons my position does not track media reporting. The first is that the media reports "science by press release" rather than the actual content of scientific publications. Press releases usually emphasize the sensational aspects of a paper in order to get press coverage. So, it is a never-ending cycle of disaster hype. The second reason is that, as a meteorologist, I try to keep up with the actual science. In that regard, I just finished a great book that reaffirms that disasters have not increased. The title is The Rightful Place of Science: Disasters & Climate Change by Dr. Roger Pielke, Jr. Dr. Pielke's research demonstrates: The dysfunctional nature of climate science with regard to attribution of global warming and increased disasters. There is high confidence that...

Does anyone in Big Climate realize that their claims can be checked? Here is the key part of a new climate scare story: There is no such thing as a "rain bomb" -- they had a dramatic photo of a downburst and decided to use it because it looks "weaponized." How many times do I have to debunk the "tornadoes are getting worse" meme? They are not. Here is the official data. Unfortunately, this graph ends at 2014. It would show even fewer major tornadoes for 2015 and for 2016, to-date.  The article pines for a better time before global warming caused rainfall to increase and even shows a graph of the increases. Okay, since according to climate 'science,' human-caused global warming began in the 1950's, let's look at a time when Mother Nature was firmly in control, say, this month in 1934: I've never understood why the catastrophic global warming people want to go back to this nostalgic era when Mother Nature was in contro...

A complete summary, here .

I don't normally cover severe thunderstorm watches but the potential for 85 mph winds and a brief tornado or two are possible as the line of storms sweeps southeast through Kansas. Please prepare accordingly.

Late this afternoon and tonight is a risk of tornadoes: The 5% area is where the risk is significant. And, there is a damaging wind risk: The 15% area is the significant risk area. The hatched area is where winds could exceed 75mph! Please prepare accordingly.

I was amused to learn the Democratic National Convention was going to screen a climate movie this evening. I didn't watch but was intrigued when Twitter lit up about "over the top" and how poorly the movie went over. So, I went to the DNC web site but couldn't find the movie. However, I did find it here . And, much to my surprise, most of the early part of tonight's movie is recycled footage from two years ago!  The original program ran on Showtime and it was called Years of Living Dangerously.  I wrote about it here . The title of my piece was an allusion to Showtime's "Californication." Note the photo of Arnold from April, 2014, and the screen capture below from tonight's movie. The entire  Dangerously video had an intentional sepia tint to make it look "drier" and conditions worse than they were. I lightened up the screen capture above so you can see the match with Dangerously's  advertisement (at top).  Tonight'...

click to enlarge "If you don't have affordable energy, you don't have sustainable jobs."

A week ago today, I posted about lightning safety and AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions ' new lightning warning technology. I am very sorry to report that nine people have lost their lives in lightning strikes in the United States the past two weeks. If you are in charge of an outdoor event venue or have outdoor workers, please contact us so we can tell you how our lifesaving storm warnings can benefit your business and your workforce. Update 4:26pm: Sorry to report there has been another lightning death today bringing the total to 10.

Last night, it was heavy rains. Tonight in Chicago, it is high wind damage. Via Twitter. @ - Just saw this, unbelievable pic.twitter.com/AyLdKr3NSs — Isles OfErin (@IslesofErin) July 25, 2016 It is damage to the covered walkway along the L Train between Chicago and Racine caused by high winds. Here is a Tweet. Again, caused by wind not lightning. Here is what the radar looked like at the time. There is other damage in the city. UPDATE from Chicago Tribune :   Portions of the CTA’s Red Line, Blue, and Brown Line service have been temporarily suspended because of damage to a platform and debris, including a tree, that fell onto the tracks during Sunday night's storm, according to the transit agency. Service on the Red Line between the Belmont and Grand stations has been halted on the North Side because a tree fell onto the tracks near the Armitage station, according to CTA spokewoman Catherine Hosinski, who was citing preliminary information. As a result...

Kerry: Refrigerator chemicals are just as bad as ISIS Air conditioners and refrigerators pose as big a threat to “life on the planet” as the threat of terrorism, Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday. Kerry was in Vienna negotiating a global climate deal to phase out chemicals used as refrigerants in basic household and commercial appliances such as air conditioning and refrigerators, called hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. The chemicals are a potent source of greenhouse gas emissions that many scientists blame for contributing to global warming. Kerry made the remarks as part of a pep talk for negotiators working through the weekend to amend a 1987 treaty called the Montreal Protocol to deal with the chemicals. “Yesterday, I met in Washington with 45 nations — defense ministers and foreign ministers — as we were working together on the challenge of [the Islamic State], and terrorism,” he said. “It’s hard for some people to grasp it, but what we — you — are doing he...

Amazing what you see on the streets of Wichita. Here is a photo taken Wednesday afternoon while stopped in traffic. Nothing unusual until you look at the bus's destination. "Honolulu"?

A classic train echo is setting up over the northern part of Chicagoland. A "train" echo is individual thunderstorms, often in an east-west configuration, taking the same path and causing very heavy rains. Think the of boxcars moving down a track. The train echo may continue until the line of thunderstorms to the west arrives later this evening. Please monitor this situation and, if you are along the train echo remember, "Turn around, don't drown!"