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Bill Hooke and I have been friends for literally decades. He is one of the wisest men in atmospheric science.  The world’s 7 billion people currently struggle to solve a high-stakes, threefold problem: satisfy a growing appetite for food, energy, water, and other resources; protect the environment; and build resilience to natural extremes. In the face of this defining challenge, our geosciences community, although well-meaning and with much to offer, too often gives the impression that we care primarily about more funding for our research. Such overt self-interest is not merely unseemly. It poses risks to our community and to society writ large... Stresses over the past decade or so have frayed the fabric of the social contract between scientists and society. The complexity and costs of science have been growing. Urgent societal challenges (in education, environmental protection, foreign relations, maintenance of aging critical infrastructure, national security, public healt...

Europe braces for 'unprecedented' power issues from solar eclipse Europe’s power operators are bracing for potential disruption from the solar eclipse expected Friday, which will knock out almost all solar-generated electricity in an “unprecedented” test for the network. “The risk of an incident cannot be completely ruled out,” the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (Entso-e) said recently, as 100 times more power is generated from the sun now than during the last eclipse in 1999. “Solar eclipses have happened before but with the increase of installed photovoltaic energy generation, the risk of an incident could be serious without appropriate countermeasures,” the group said. “For the first time this is expected to have a relevant impact on the secure operation of the European power system,” warned Entso-e. Yeah, that green energy sure is looking good these days.

But, I thought the meteorology and physics lessons were interesting!

Springfield News-Leader In 2011, 15 were killed at Joplin’s St. John’s Mercy Medical Center by the F-5 tornado that moved across the city. In my interviews  with hospital personnel, they said they were not aware the tornado was approaching until just six minutes before the tornado struck. There wasn’t sufficient time to move patients into safe areas. Surgery was in progress when the tornado hit. The outdoor generator was destroyed, so the operating room was plunged into total darkness. Two years later, three were killed at the Moore, Oklahoma, hospital by the May 20, 2013, tornado. [Rick Smith of the National Weather Service in Norman says the information I relied on was incorrect and that no one died at the hospital. While he did not provide a link, he is an expert on this event. I am happy to correct the record.] These tragic examples demonstrate that hospitals and certain other industries need more notice of a tornado than the 10 to 15 minutes that works so well...

Wichita Eagle Photo The full story is here .