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NBC News
5 days ago
- Climate
- NBC News
Hail chasers: Meet the weather detectives trying to decipher why hail is becoming a bigger problem
The chase From mid-May through the end of June, ICECHIP storm chasers traveled across the Front Range of the Rockies and the central Plains, sometimes riding in vehicles armored against falling ice. They launched drones, released weather balloons and set up mobile doppler radars — all techniques honed by tornado chasers. As one group positioned mobile doppler radars to intercept the storm at close range, other researchers were responsible for releasing weather balloons nearby or setting out sensors to measure the size and velocity of a hail strike. During some storms, researchers released hundreds of pingpong ball-like devices called hailsondes into the tempests' path to track the life cycle of a hail stone — when it is melting and freezing, and how wind dynamics that lift and drop these chunks of ice affect their growth. Convective thunderstorms, with big internal updrafts, generate hail by circulating a mix of water and ice crystals into the freezing layers of the upper atmosphere. Hail typically forms at altitudes of 20,000 to 50,000 feet, where temperatures are between minus 22 degrees and 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Those same updrafts sweep hailsondes into the hail-generating parts of each storm. 'If we can track that sensor with time, we're going to, at least for a couple of these storms, understand the exact path, the exact trajectory that a hailstone takes,' said Victor Gensini, a professor of meteorology at Northern Illinois University and an ICECHIP principal investigator. In an atmosphere warmed by climate change, 'we get a lot more instability,' Gensini said, which researchers think creates stronger updrafts. Those stronger updrafts can support larger hailstones for more time, which allows balls or discs of ice to gain mass, before gravity sends them racing to the ground. 'It's kind of like if you take a hair dryer and turn it on its end, it's pretty easy to balance a pingpong ball, right, in that airstream,' Gensini explained. 'But what would you need to balance a softball? You would need a much stronger updraft stream.' Storm modeling suggests stronger updrafts will increase the frequency of large hail in the future, even as it decreases the likelihood of hail overall. Researchers suspect small hail will decrease because its lower mass means that it will take longer to fall. By the time it's close to the surface, it has often melted down to water. 'There's this kind of dichotomy, right, where you get less small hail but more large hail in these warmer atmospheres that have very strong updrafts,' Gensini said. During their field campaign, the researchers amassed a collection of more than 10,000 hailstones in chests of dry ice to try to determine if their computer models are getting the dynamics of hail growth right. 'The hail record is kind of messy,' Gensini said of previous data, adding that observers have recorded more 2-, 3- and 4-inch hailstones, but it's not clear if that's because more people are chasing and finding big hail or because the atmosphere is producing more of it. Gensini said the new measurements will help researchers compare what is happening in the air to what they're finding on the ground, which should improve hail forecasts and mitigate economic losses. In many of the areas where ICECHIP is working, there's a lot of agriculture, according to Karen Kosiba, an atmospheric scientist with the University of Illinois Flexible Array of Radars and Mesonets team who is also working with ICECHIP. 'It affects their crops, their machinery, getting stuff into shelter,' she said. 'There's a lot of economic ties to the weather.'
CBS News
18-07-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
NIU Huskies hope for championship in last year in MAC
The Northern Illinois University football team was at Harry Caray's downtown Thursday on their annual media tour before camp. The Huskies are returning just four starters from last season, which was highlighted by a huge upset of Notre Dame in South Bend. This will also be NIU's last year in the MAC before moving to the Mountain West Conference. Head coach Thomas Hammock said the hard way is the only way forward for Northern. "One thing about players, they can care less if somebody leaves. They can care less if somebody graduates," Hammock said. "As a matter of fact, they hope you leave and they hope you graduate, because that gives them an opportunity to play. What you're going to see is we've got guys in our program that's going to be better than guys that played last year." The players are looking forward to working with their new teammates. "I wouldn't say like a young group, but I mean, definitely some guys that haven't got the, like, on-field, like in-game experience," said offensive lineman Abiathar Curry. "So it's nice to what they'll be able to do, because I feel like we had a great spring." "You know, people don't really know, you know, what we're going to be like because it's just so much change — new coaches, new players — but yeah, we're flying low on the radar for all these other teams, so I think we could use it to our advantage for sure," said receiver Dane Pardridge. Hammock said winning another MAC championship would be the perfect way to go out. "It would mean everything," he said. "I think we wanted a program to have, you know, some of the most MAC championships, and we definitely want to win one this season." Linebacker Quinn Urwiler would like to win a MAC championship too, like his older brother Trey did. "I never got to experience something like it, so I hear, you know, my brother got to experience it when he was here, and he said it was amazing. And honestly, I would be do anything to be able to get there, honestly, and I know a lot of these guys would too — so we all just got to come together, and we'll get there."
Chicago Tribune
07-07-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Former Bears player Garrett Wolfe sells Gurnee town home for $335,000
Former Chicago Bears running back Garrett Wolfe on July 2 sold his three-bedroom, 1,676-square-foot town home in Gurnee for its $335,000 asking price. A Chicago native, Wolfe, 40, played for the Bears for four seasons after the team drafted him out of Northern Illinois University in 2007. In his final two seasons with the Bears — 2009 and 2010 — he was a core special-teams performer, but the Bears did not offer him a new contract afterward, and he left the NFL and played for a time in Canada. In Gurnee, Wolfe paid $232,000 in 2007 for the town home. Built in 1990 and located in Gurnee's Townhomes of Kensington area, the town home has 2-1/2 bathrooms, a first-floor den/office, new hardwood floors throughout and a kitchen with modern shaker cabinets, new appliances and granite countertops. The town home also has a two-car garage and a variety of modern features in its bathrooms, including floating vanities, glass shower doors and integrated Bluetooth speakers in the ceiling. Wolfe first listed the town home in February for $299,000 before taking it off the market. He relisted it in April for $335,000. Listing agent Rashied Davis of eXp Realty, himself a former Bears teammate of Wolfe, told Elite Street that he had 'nothing to say' about Wolfe's sale. The town home had a $6,421 property tax bill in the 2023 tax year. It also has a $305-a-month homeowners association dues.
Miami Herald
28-06-2025
- Science
- Miami Herald
With more intense hurricanes, do we also have to prepare for more tornadoes in Florida?
We know that the warming climate, driven largely by fossil fuel emissions, are intensifying hurricanes. But what about tornadoes? To answer our readers' questions on the links between climate change and tornadoes and how we can improve safety, the Herald spoke spoke to hazards geographer Stephen Strader, who studied meteorology and geography at Northern Illinois University, and holds degrees in both. He also researches tornadoes at Villanova University in Pennsylvania., where he's an associate professor of geography and the environment and geography program director. How is climate change affecting the risk of tornadoes? Stephen Strader: We actually know a lot more about climate change and hurricanes than we do tornadoes, because tornadoes tend to be very small – the widest tornado ever recorded is two and a half miles wide, and most are only a few 100 yards wide. Our models are not at that resolution. What is concerning, though, is that it's not uncommon to have tornadoes associated with hurricanes because you have a very violent environment, and you have a lot of moisture. These ingredients tend to produce tornadoes. Now that the rapid intensification of these hurricanes is becoming more frequent, where I'm going to bed and the hurricane is at Category 1, and I wake up and it's a Category 4, the question becomes: how are hurricanes changing and will that produce more tornadoes? If we end up with stronger and slower moving hurricanes producing more precipitation, the guess would be that tornadoes would also increase when they're associated with hurricanes. The scary thing is: We really don't know yet. How far away from a hurricane can tornadoes spawn? Hurricane Milton made landfall on the Gulf Coast, but on the Atlantic Coast, we saw a local record of 46 in a day, with five deaths in St. Lucie County alone. Strader: They can occur 50 to 100 miles away from the center of the hurricane. When we think about a hurricane's impact, it's not just the eye wall. The tornadoes typically are further away from the eye wall. They have to be, because they need a lot of different ingredients than the hurricane. What's scary about that to me is that the hurricane made landfall on the west coast of Florida, so on the east coast, people let their guard down. 'Oh, we're on the safe side of Florida'. But then here come the tornadoes. I think that contributed to a lot of the deaths and damages that we saw. What can we do to better protect our communities from tornadoes – can we zone for them? Strader: We can build stronger structures, enforce codes, retrofit structures – and we do that, but we need to do more of that. You can bring a manufactured home up to really strong codes, above and beyond what is required. It's just expensive. So the question now is, who pays for it, and how do we do that? Zoning is difficult, and frankly, tourism reigns king. No one's going to not build in an area that's going to make them money every day. No developer, no business is going to do that. Tornadoes are rare, hurricanes are fairly rare. So you're asking people to stop doing something that's going to make them money day to day, in favor of being worried about a low probability event. That's tricky. People tend to gamble. But Florida is going to have to start asking the question: Do we zone? And really, it's because of sea level rise and flooding. The insurance companies have pulled out in a lot of states, and that's because it's just too risky. So, are people going to move away, or are they gonna be forced to move away? This Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity. This story is part of a periodic Miami Herald series where we answer reader questions about climate change. Send us yours at climate@ This climate report is funded by Florida International University, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the David and Christina Martin Family Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald retains editorial control of all content.
San Francisco Chronicle
26-06-2025
- Climate
- San Francisco Chronicle
PHOTO ESSAY: Behind-the-scenes moments as hail chasers learn about pounding and costly storms
MORTON, Texas (AP) — Even when Mother Nature turns nasty, the weather extremes carry a sense of awesome beauty. About 60 scientists this spring and early summer went straight into hailstorms to better understand what makes them tick and learn how to reduce the $10 billion in annual in damage they cause each year in the United States. When three Associated Press colleagues joined the scientists for several days, they found more than just hail, strong winds, rain and science in the storm. They found breathtaking sights and sounds to share. When there are dozens of scientists — many of them students — high-tech radar, weather balloons, hail collecting devices and storms that sometimes have tornadoes in them, someone has to make sure it all goes well and no one gets hurt. For the first few weeks of Project ICECHIP that someone was Victor Gensini, Northern Illinois University meteorology professor and one of the hail team's lead scientists. Gensini and his hand-picked students guided everyone like chess pieces via a computer program called Guru in his command vehicle. But he couldn't just sit back in the SUV and let others have the fun. He would drive close to the storm, not close enough to get the car damaged because unlike the Husky Hail Hunter he didn't have protective mesh hanging over the windshield. But he would get close enough to study, direct and just gaze in wonder at storms that would take over the horizon in the Texas panhandle and nearby Oklahoma and New Mexico. The clouds themselves tell the story of a roiling atmosphere. At times dark and dangerous, sometimes they are light with visible vertical stripes indicating downpours. And then a large bulging tornado can form and inspire awe and fear. There are small twisters that can also form and turn out just as dangerous. And finally if you are lucky at the end, there's a rainbow or two. One afternoon in the Texas panhandle, the hail chasing team could gaze out and see a double rainbow and a swirling twister that didn't quite reach the ground. The clouds aren't just beautiful above the vast plains. When they frame a building, such as the one sporting the Hollis Tigers mascot in Hollis, Texas, they combine to look menacing and stark. Two teams, the Red and the Black Teams, try to go ahead of the storm to see how it develops. They release wind balloons with instruments and GPS tracking that measure moisture, wind speed and direction. Inflating weather balloons is not a simple task. As gusty winds push, students scientists they have to inflate the balloon, tie it up, connect the instrument panel which is sealed in a disposable coffee cup with a lid on it. Then it's time to release the weather balloons. It's a two-person job with one holding the cup of instruments and the other the balloon. Releasing weather balloons isn't just letting them go. It's got to be done with some care — usually a 'one, two, three' and release — otherwise the instrument cup could slam into the balloon holder as an Associated Press reporter nearly found out the hard way. Once released, the balloons can fly as high as 60,000 feet or more. Or they can never quite get off the ground if there's a tiny hole in the balloon. There's also time to gawk as well as be scientists. Black Team members Evelynn Mantia and Olivena Carlisle, both of NIU, take photos of an approaching storm they have been monitoring. And once they finish, their job is to fall back a bit and then collect hail that has dropped. A storm hits, forcing one team to take cover The Red Team also releases weather balloons to get ahead of the storm and collect hail stones afterward. But the three students also get to go a bit into the storms. Ahead of the gathering storm, Ethan Mok and Wyatt Ficek release their balloon. In the first several days of the ICECHIP campaign, the Red Team earned a reputation for pushing the envelope. And on this late afternoon into early evening in New Mexico, the team, with Mok at the wheel, showed why. After releasing their balloons they went ahead into the storm as the skies darkened. The rain started coming down. Winds began to blow. They pulled over to take some pictures of the storm taking over the horizon. As they did, a semitruck sped down the road into the storm. Mok and team members laughed, saying the truck would have to turn around. The Red Team wasn't going to turn around. Photos taken, they drove off into the storm like the truck. The skies got even darker. Winds and rain intensified. Visibility out the windshield disappeared. Somewhat reluctantly, Mok finally pulled off the tiny road and waited. They watched the semitruck come back and try to flee the storm. They vehicle shook. They stared at weather radar and outside. Over the radio, Gensini had meteorology student Katie Wargowsky radio to them to get to safety. Mok quickly complied, trying to go south and around the storm and back to the chasers' hotel. The storm had other ideas. It overtook the Red Team. Hail was coming down. Wind was whipping. Visibility was gone. Wargowsky radioed for them to pull into a gas station for safety. Mok said he wished he could but the stretch of road was remote and there were no gas stations for cover. He had to barrel through, finally making it to a fast food drive-thru as reward. Scientist hail chasers see others rushing into storms Ever since the movie 'Twister,' storm chasing has gone from a scientific pursuit to an adrenaline filled, social media-stoked touristy pastime. As the scientific team of hail hunters chased down a massive storm system near Morton, Texas, car after car of storm chasers, some with creative license plates, zipped by. At times, storm chasers dotted the side of the road, cameras at the ready. Gensini, the project ICECHIP operations chief, often had to caution his team to be watchful of the crazy driving of the tornado chasers. They could be as much of a hazard as the storms themselves, Gensini cautioned. Tony Illenden drives the Husky Hail Hunter, one of the team's prime vehicles that goes right into the storms. It has mesh hanging above the windshield to protect it from being cracked. Illenden is careful with a helmet on his head to make sure it isn't cracked from hail when he goes out in the storm. Sometimes it comes awfully close. And once it came too close smacking his unprotected hand, which swelled up for a couple days and then was better. Collecting hail is a key part of the science. So researchers, wearing gloves so as not to warm up the ice balls, pick up the hail, put them in bags and then in coolers. Then they get crushed, sliced, measured, weighed and otherwise examined. With the red plains stretching out, a storm in its sheer magnificence forms an odd looking hole in the clouds. It's a signal of danger. The lower cloud is the wall cloud, where energy and moisture flows up. The cloud then forms lower. The empty space is the dangerous rear flank downdraft, which is cooler air pushing down with great force, getting wrapped around the backside of the wall cloud, team forecaster David Imy said. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
