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Weekly Time Waster: A cool site about a hot place

By Scott Sistek Published: Oct 15, 2008 at 2:56 PM PDT Last Updated: Nov 21, 2008 at 3:57 AM PDT

Here in the Northwest, we don't get to see the sun that often. But if you ever wanted an up close look, check out thesuninmotion.com

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About Scott Sistek

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Weather "What does ''EF-4'' mean?' and other tornado questions answered

By Scott Sistek Published: May 20, 2013 at 4:10 PM PDT

With tornadoes in the news lately I figured it'd be a good time to post answers to some frequently asked questions about the powerful storms:

What does "EF-4" mean?

WIth the devastating tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, you'll be hearing a lot of about "EF" ratings -- that's from the Enhanced Fujita Scale that rates tornadoes on a scale of 0 to 5, 5 being the strongest.

The Moore tornado was given a preliminary rating of EF-4 ("Devastating") with estimated tornadic wind speeds of up to 200 mph, although many are thinking that rating could be increased to an EF-5 ("Incredible") once more damage assessment is done.

Sadly, it's not the first time Moore has had to deal with such a catastrophic storm. On May 3, 1999, Moore was struck by an EF-5 tornado which recorded the strongest wind speed ever registered near Earth's surface. this map provided by the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma shows just how close the two tracks were.

Weather Northern Lights peek out in Eastern Washington (Photo Gallery)

By Scott Sistek Published: May 18, 2013 at 9:57 AM PDT Last Updated: May 19, 2013 at 12:55 AM PDT

As we mentioned in the blog Thursday, there's a particularly active sunspot on the sun right now.

It had, as its opening salvo while starting to face the Earth, unleashed a moderately strong solar flare that reached us late Friday, triggering a display of the Northern Lights that reached as far south as Colorado.

Weather Northern Lights to be visible around the Pacific Northwest soon?

By Scott Sistek Published: May 16, 2013 at 11:33 AM PDT Last Updated: May 16, 2013 at 1:58 PM PDT

The sun has been getting quite active lately, with one sun spot in particular giving off several explosive flares this week, and it could eventually bring some brilliant displays of the Northern Lights to the Pacific Northwest.

Since Monday, Sunspot AR1748 has already given off four "X-class" solar flares -- X being the most powerful class of flares that have potential to disrupt radio and satellite signals. In fact, that flare has given off more X-class flares than every other sunspot of the past year combined, according to spaceweather.com.

Up to this point, the spot has been on a part of the sun not directly facing Earth, so the flares have been directed away from our planet and not really giving us much of an effect.

Weather Northwest Weather Photos: Showing off our spectacular spring (Photo Gallery)

By Scott Sistek Published: May 15, 2013 at 6:50 AM PDT Last Updated: May 15, 2013 at 4:07 PM PDT

Weather 'Ice wave' attacks homes in Minnesota

By Scott Sistek Published: May 13, 2013 at 12:55 PM PDT Last Updated: May 14, 2013 at 2:05 PM PDT

You've probably seen video of flash floods before, but for these homeowners in Minnesota, it was a little different this weekend: A "flood" of ice.

A woman on Minnesota's Mille Lacs Lake snapped this video of what some are calling an "ice out tsunami."

"Just sounded like shattering glass," Darla Johnson told WCCO-TV. "It was pushing and breaking and pushing and breaking."

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Weekly Time Waster: A cool site about a hot place

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