47
votes
Were 50°C (122°F) days recorded across Australia during the 1800s?
This is true, but misleading
Temperatures over 50 were routinely measured in Australia in the 19th century, but it was due to the fact that Australia hadn't modernized its weather technology until ...
- 532
31
votes
Accepted
Was one-third of Pakistan flooded in August 2022?
The Washington Post seems to disagree; they don't repeat the 1/3 claim and post this map instead, where blue area is clearly less than 1/3 of Pakistan.
Note the 100 miles scale.
OTOH Nature in its ...
- 59.8k
25
votes
Accepted
Does clean air transmit significantly more UV?
Yes.
Based on [Relationship between surface UV radiation and air pollution in Beijing] from 2008 by An JL1, Wang YS, Li X, Sun Y, Shen SH.
This study also shows that a substantial reduction (up ...
- 2,785
22
votes
Could bread be baked in a mailbox when the temperature is 100°F (37°C)?
No. According to media reports, the woman in the picture has stated that the photo was staged, and intended to be a joke:
If the story is too good to be true, it's because it is. Roberta says while ...
- 9,539
18
votes
Is it harmful to sip a little alcohol in the cold?
The main harm from ingestion of alcohol in cold weather is the risk of hypothermia. Alcohol is known to affect body temperature during cold weather as well as hot weather.
Drinking alcohol may ...
- 22.7k
13
votes
Accepted
Are these clouds being engineered by chemtrails?
It is entirely normal and natural for clouds to form around the contrails of aircraft.
The clouds in the video are mostly cirrus. Cirrus clouds are very high clouds of ice crystals, and form in ...
- 741
13
votes
Accepted
Could bread be baked in a mailbox when the temperature is 100°F (37°C)?
No
Bread is typically baked at between 350 and 475F (180 and 246C) I did a bit more research and found it's possible do do it at lower temperatures. It did take 45 minutes and the bread doesn't have ...
- 1,854
12
votes
Can Dubai make it rain with drones that emit electric charges?
Yes. Some articles: one, two, three, four.
In essence, chemical cloud seeding uses something like salt or silver iodide as a nucleus. Water vapor collects around such particles, eventually growing to ...
- 245
11
votes
Accepted
Was Hurricane Irma ever a Category 6 storm?
No, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale currently tops-out at Category 5.
Snopes has also covered this issue:
Is Irma a Category 6 storm?
We can say with certainty that Hurricane Irma is not a ...
- 1,074
10
votes
Should you get out of your car in a tornado?
An F2 tornado can flip and tumble lighter cars, which might be less comfortable than lying flat in a ditch where the wind can't get under you.
Certainly in this case:
Better options than ditches, ...
- 4,673
10
votes
Do many people die because of shovelling snow?
About 100 a year in the USA.
An estimated 195 100 individuals (95% confidence interval, 140 400-249 800) were treated in US EDs for snow shovel–related incidents during the 17-year study period, ...
- 105k
9
votes
Do the majority of flood deaths happen in vehicles?
The NOAA has categorized data online for deaths due to flooding going back to 1996. The total number per year fluctuates quite significantly, but if we add the data from all years together we get 2123 ...
- 3,826
9
votes
Accepted
Has Longitudinal Wave Interferometry ever been used to alter the weather?
I don't believe "longitudinal wave interferometry" is actually a thing. Therefore, I think it's safe to say that any related weapons do not actually exist, and even implying that said weapons are "...
- 318
9
votes
Does the Mount Washington wind speed record have scientific validity?
THE GREAT WIND OF APRIL 11-12, 1934, ON MOUNT WASHINGTON, N.H., AND ITS
MEASUREMENT
In the course of preparation of this paper, and in order
to establish all the facts of such important records, ...
- 105k
9
votes
Is this picture of a man in Colorado Springs nearly being blown away, genuine, or a hoax?
The Facebook post cites Cody Pierce as the source for the photo. In a comment on that post (does that link to the comment? it should) he states:
Marg Braddock Real or photo chopped? Either way it is ...
8
votes
Is Nikola Tesla the only scientist to successfully create ball lightning?
He is not the only one to reproduce ball lightning.
Mysterious 'Ball Lightning' Recreated In The Lab [GIFS]
From a NASA site (PDF):
At last the discovery of how to produce ball lightning on a command ...
- 81
7
votes
Accepted
Can helicopters safely fly when it is raining?
On the one hand, I accept that Hollywood exaggerates ...
Funerals and somber events almost inevitably are portrayed as happening during slightly inclement weather in Hollywood movies. An umbrella is ...
- 14.5k
6
votes
Accepted
Does US law leave walk-shoveling homeowners open to lawsuit more than those who don't shovel at all?
There is no way to generalize the entire USA.
This answer will quote jury instruction from Illinois. Do not generalize to elsewhere.
As a general rule, property owners have no duty to remove ...
- 105k
6
votes
Does this video show a very localised rain shower falling on one spot?
This is false.
The origin of this claim is this video which shows water coming up from the ground not the sky. Snopes has an article debunking it.
The video has been circulating online since at least ...
- 15.7k
6
votes
Do mobile phones attract lightning strikes if they are not switched off?
No, mobile phones do not attract lightning strikes.
NPR specifically addressed this BMJ article in Debunking the Cell Phone-Lightning Connection on August 2, 2006:
You may have heard something a ...
- 852
6
votes
Accepted
Could 5G make weather satellites less effective?
This issue was discussed during the last World Radiocommunication Conference, held in November 2019 by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), under Agenda Item 1.13. The ITU has worked on ...
- 76
6
votes
Can helicopters safely fly when it is raining?
Yes, they can fly in rain with no trouble at all and there is plenty of evidence to back this up. Of course in situations like this safety concerns are different because it would be the president of ...
- 5,074
5
votes
Does the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission require weatherized pipelines and equipment (but Texas's doesn't)?
According to another, longer piece in the same newspaper (published on the same day), part of the answer is that mandatory winterization rules are still being drafted by the NERC:
Last year, the ...
- 59.8k
5
votes
Do more people drown in deserts than die of thirst?
Another source claims that:
It is believed that, in 525 B.C., 50,000 soldiers of a Persian Army
perished in the Thar Desert in the face of a giant sandstorm, and
their compelling remains were ...
- 4,673
4
votes
Could lightning have struck the entire North Korean women's soccer team?
In 1998 players from Bena Tshadi in the Democratic Republic of Congo were killed mid-game. Bena Tshadi were drawing 1-1 with visitors Basanga in the eastern province of Kasai when tragedy struck. "...
- 105k
3
votes
Was one-third of Pakistan flooded in August 2022?
There are satellite images from 4th August and 28th August on Live Science website.
'Monsoon on steroids' has flooded vast swaths of Pakistan, disturbing satellite images show
New satellite images ...
- 7,663
3
votes
Can current flooding in California end the years-long drought?
Drought conditions in the United States are monitored by the US Geological Survey (USGS).
See the following link for current California hydrological drought conditions: https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?...
- 105k
2
votes
Is it harmful to sip a little alcohol in the cold?
Alcohol expands the blood vessels, bringing the warmth into skin from inside. This creates the feeling of warmth and may protect the skin. However the heat is lost more quickly due heating the skin ...
- 127
2
votes
Was one-third of Pakistan flooded in August 2022?
From a recent episode of BBC Radio program "More or Less" https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0czg85z
They traced the original statement back to the Pakistan Minister saying the proportion of ...
- 671
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible