Weather Measurement Facts, Figures, and Records
 At this very moment, some two thousand
thunderstorms are booming their way around the Earth.
Scientists have discovered that Wednesday is the warmest day of the week.
Ice is much slicker near its freezing point than at lower temperatures.
Motorists need twice the braking distance to stop on ice at -1C than at -18C.
The three foods that people buy most before hurricanes (or blizzards or large
storms) are cookies, cake, and candy.
About 125 million square kilometres of the earth are covered year-round with
ice.
There are twice as many fatal heart attacks in winter as in summer.
 Admissions to psychiatric wards and mental
health centres increase on humid days.
In the Antarctic, you can eat 7,000 calories a day without gaining weight.
That's what it takes to keep warm without an outside source of heat.
Tree crickets are called the poor man's thermometer because temperature directly
affects their rate of activity. Listen for a cricket and count the number
of chirps it makes in fifteen seconds. Add 37. The sum will be the Fahrenheit
temperature (almost exactly!).
Poplar trees and red and silver maples flip up their leaves when air pressure
is low and rain is imminent.
Many people can smell rain coming. Some scientists believe moisture (impending
rain) makes your nose more sensitive.
How far away is lightning? During a storm, count the number of seconds between
the strike of lightning and the sound of thunder, then divide by five. The
answer reveals how many miles away the lightning is.
Dark clouds are storm clouds. Because they have a high ice crystal content,
light has trouble passing through them, making the clouds appear dark. Eventually,
the crystals become so heavy that they fall to earth as either snow or rain.
Weather Measurement Records
- Fastest surface wind speed: 231 miles per hour
(Mount Washington, New Hampshire; April 12, 1934)
- Fastest tornado winds: 286 miles per hour
(Wichita Falls, Texas; April 2, 1958)
- Greatest rainfall in a day: 73.62 inches
(RĜunion, Indian Ocean; March 15, 1952)
- Greatest rainfall in a year: 1,041 inches
(Assam, India; August 1880-1881)
- Greatest snowfall in a day: 75.8 inches
(Silver Lake, Colorado; April 14-15, 1921)
- Greatest snowfall in a single storm: 189 inches
(Mt. Shasta, California; February 13-19, 1959)
- Largest hailstone: 17.5 inches
(Coffeyville, Kansas; September 3, 1970)
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