A meteorological and personal recap of the winter storm that left the Northeast buried in two to three feet of snow between February 8th and 9th.

We often think of snowflakes in terms of the perfect, crystal forms featured on holiday cards and sweaters, but these perfect-looking snowflakes are actually very rare.

Having lived in New England most of my life, I’m not used to seeing rainstorms approaching from miles off, but it turns out this is a pretty common sight out in the wide-open West. I took this picture two weeks ago in Arizona. At the time it was the tail end of the monsoon season in the southwest and there were thunderstorms almost every afternoon. I took the picture near the summit of Mt. Lemmon, [...continue reading]

Just in time for Earth Day, what did San Francisco, New York, and Boston look like before they were cities?