CU's storm chasers are studying hailstorms

University of Colorado Boulder's Eric Frew is eager to get a drone in the air. It's June in the Plains, and that means hailstorm season.
Why it matters: Hail causes billions of dollars in damage every year and leads to higher insurance rates nationwide. Yet, we know little about how it forms, says Frew.
What he's saying: "We need better scientific understanding to make better forecast models, to build better homes, and all the things that you can do with a better understanding of this," he tells us hours before he leaves for western Nebraska.
State of play: Frew and his small team of students are part of the largest hail study in decades, dubbed ICECHIP.
It involves roughly 70 private and public researchers, and includes scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder.
Zoom in: The CU team is spending six weeks through the end of June looking for storm clouds on the Front Range and across the Great Plains.
Frew — the director of the Center for Autonomous Air Mobility and Sensing — is tasked with using a drone to map the hailstorm damage from above.
"Our team is actually going right behind the storm to try to image … the full extent of where it fell. And you need all of that information together to really understand what's going on with this hail," he says.
The intrigue: The drone they are using is the inspiration for the one featured in the blockbuster movie "Twisters."
"I want to stress they got the design from us, not the other way around," Frew says with a laugh.
Yes, but: No tornado chasing for this team. Frew says hail can cause more damage and is often hard to detect. "It's not quite as crazy as what the movies look like," he allows. "Although … I worry more about the damage hail can do than a tornado, because you can see the tornado a little bit more easily."

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

11 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Latest Starship Explosion Drastically Decreases SpaceX's Chances of Reaching Mars Without Having to Wait Years

With tech billionaire Elon Musk out of the White House after his disastrous turn as a bureaucrat, he can now focus on more pressing subjects — such as his SpaceX Starship rockets that keep on exploding into fiery columns of fire, with the latest dramatic failure this past Wednesday in Texas, when the massive spacecraft hadn't even left the ground yet. This recent setback ratchets up the pressure on Musk even further, who faces a hard deadline and steep technical challenges in his vaunted goal to reach Mars. Much of that deadline is self-imposed, as CNN points out in an excoriating new breakdown of the situation. In May, Musk said he plans to send an unmanned crew to Mars next year, but the latest blast — the latest in a string of similar explosions that have plagued Starship — seem almost certain to set him back enough to force SpaceX to miss a crucial celestial launch opportunity called a transfer window. Depending on the position of Earth and Mars from one another, the distance between the two planets can vary from 35 million to over 200 million miles. To make the journey shorter and to save cost on fuel, explorers must time their rocket launch during the transfer window, a period when Mars and Earth are in an optimal alignment that minimizes the journey's length. The next transfer window for Mars is in late 2026 and will only last for a few weeks; miss it, and the journey will be way more expensive and far longer to be practical. To still make the deadline, Musk faces the extraordinary challenge of fixing any technical challenges with Starship and present an upgraded version of the vehicle and the Super Heavy rocket booster in time before the Mars transfer window next year. In addition, SpaceX has to figure out how to fuel Starship, which needs to be topped off with propellant in orbit before making its journey to the red planet. This would involve launching numerous Starships into space and using them to fuel up the one headed to the Red Planet — a process that will pose a spectacular logistical challenge of its own. "We've never done that," Bruce Jakosky, professor emeritus of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, told CNN. "Nobody's done that — transferring fuel from one spacecraft to another in orbit autonomously." Another technical challenge SpaceX needs to solve is Starship's heat shield, which has to survive entry into Mar's atmosphere and the journey back to Earth. Back in May, Musk himself conceded that it posed "one of the toughest problems to solve." And all that is without getting into the technical feasibility of human flight to Mars, including how to shield any crew from cosmic radiation. Before any of that, of course, Starship needs to stop exploding. More on SpaceX: Elon's Explosion at Trump Appears to Have Cost Him a HUGE Deal

Newsweek

5 hours ago

• Newsweek

'Unintended Consequences' Put Forever Chemical in US Air for First Time

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Scientists have made the first documented airborne detection of a toxic chemical pollutant known as Medium Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (MCCPs) in the Western Hemisphere. The findings, published in ACS Environmental Au, came during a month-long field campaign in Oklahoma by researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, who used a high-resolution chemical ionization mass spectrometer designed to study how aerosol particles form in the atmosphere. While the team expected to observe known compounds, the instruments instead registered isotopic patterns that led to the identification of MCCPs—pollutants previously detected in Asia and Antarctica, but never before in North American air. File image: PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, used in a range of applications. File image: PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, used in a range of applications. Photo by Tunatura / Getty Images "When we first realized that we had measured MCCPs, we were intrigued and cautious," Ellie Browne, CU Boulder chemistry professor, CIRES Fellow, and co-author of the study, told Newsweek in an email. "Since we had not planned on measuring these compounds, we first had to learn about them and also make sure that our measurements were of high-quality," Browne said. "Once we determined that we indeed were detecting these compounds in the atmosphere, we recognized the importance of these measurements and were excited to contribute to the understanding of how these compounds move through the environment and ultimately impact peoples' lives." Why It Matters MCCPs are used in metalworking, PVC plastics and textiles. "MCCP emissions occur across the entire lifecycle of those products including manufacture, use and disposal," Browne said. Like their chemical cousins—short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs), which are already regulated—they resist degradation and can travel long distances in the environment. Because SCCPs have been phased out under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Stockholm Convention regulations, MCCPs have become more common. Browne said MCCPs have previously been difficult to find in tests, even though researchers expected them to be present in North America. "We always have these unintended consequences of regulation, where you regulate something and then there's still a need for the products that those were in," Browne said in a university release, "So they get replaced by something." What To Know Researchers suspect the MCCPs they found originated from biosolid fertilizers—waste byproducts from sewage treatment—applied to nearby farmland. "While one exposure might not be harmful, because these chemicals can travel long distances and last a long-time in the environment and in living organisms, repeated and continued exposure becomes worrisome," Browne told Newsweek. "Measurements such as ours are critical for evaluating and predicting how these chemicals move through and build-up in the environment. They also inform when and how people are exposed to them. This knowledge is then used to protect people and the environment." While their presence was unexpected, MCCPs share structural traits with PFAS, or "forever chemicals", now banned in Oklahoma's biosolid fertilizers due to persistence and health risks. What's Next The team wants to continue studying how MCCPs end up in the atmosphere and where they are most prevalent, although future studies depend on funding, according to Browne. "Understanding how our health is impacted by the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat requires measuring what compounds are present in air, water and food," she told Newsweek. "Our measurements enhance the understanding of how MCCPs move through the environment and how we may be exposed to these compounds, however, more measurements and investigations are required to understand the problem. "We are excited to see how our measurements contribute to awareness of and investigation into MCCPs. It is important to remember that keeping our communities healthy requires investment in science funding so that studies such as this one can continue."

Axios

2 days ago

• Axios

CU's storm chasers are studying hailstorms

University of Colorado Boulder's Eric Frew is eager to get a drone in the air. It's June in the Plains, and that means hailstorm season. Why it matters: Hail causes billions of dollars in damage every year and leads to higher insurance rates nationwide. Yet, we know little about how it forms, says Frew. What he's saying: "We need better scientific understanding to make better forecast models, to build better homes, and all the things that you can do with a better understanding of this," he tells us hours before he leaves for western Nebraska. State of play: Frew and his small team of students are part of the largest hail study in decades, dubbed ICECHIP. It involves roughly 70 private and public researchers, and includes scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. Zoom in: The CU team is spending six weeks through the end of June looking for storm clouds on the Front Range and across the Great Plains. Frew — the director of the Center for Autonomous Air Mobility and Sensing — is tasked with using a drone to map the hailstorm damage from above. "Our team is actually going right behind the storm to try to image … the full extent of where it fell. And you need all of that information together to really understand what's going on with this hail," he says. The intrigue: The drone they are using is the inspiration for the one featured in the blockbuster movie "Twisters." "I want to stress they got the design from us, not the other way around," Frew says with a laugh. Yes, but: No tornado chasing for this team. Frew says hail can cause more damage and is often hard to detect. "It's not quite as crazy as what the movies look like," he allows. "Although … I worry more about the damage hail can do than a tornado, because you can see the tornado a little bit more easily."