As a society, we need to stop socially accommodating willfully stupid people.

Not all opinions matter. We don't have to respect everyone's beliefs. Feelings don't equal facts.

If you're a crazy person who subscribes to asinine conspiracies, yeah... you'll be laughed at. Rebutting against or calling out falsehoods and misinformation is NOT unprofessional. “Correct” versus “incorrect” is not an issue of subjectivity or politeness.

There aren’t two sides to every issue. A Google search does not represent expertise on a subject. Education does.

Were Thursday's storms in Houston a #derecho?

There's no doubt the storm complex was extremely destructive, long-lived and part of a larger MCS, or mesoscale convective system, that traveled a considerable distance.

BUT some semantics we need to get into. A thread: For starters, as @WeatherProf and @capitalweather adroitly point out, these MCSs formed on the northern periphery of a sprawling heat dome over Central America and the Gulf. That's a classic recipe for progressive derechos to ride along the CAPE gradient as "ridge runners."

As one reviews radar data, it becomes increasingly apparent that a tornado warning should very much have been in effect for Dortches, N.C.

This was, simply, a big miss; we weren't *anticipating* it, but radar/warning *reaction* was slow.

Let's look at the radar: As the storm is over Nashville at 12:15 p.m., it is obviously hooking. It also appears it may be ingesting some streamwise vorticity from a boundary, with can be seen south of Spring Hope. SPC had also had a mesoscale discussion up for 1 hour 35 minutes at this point.

An *incredible* atmospheric river event in #California.

A "double bomb" off Pacific Northwest coast with an air pressure rivaling that of Sandy in 2012 is swirling ashore record moisture.

Up to a foot of rain, debris flows, meters of Sierra Nevada snow. washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/1… In California, Sacramento could see 4 to 6 inches of rain.

They just wrapped up a record dry streak that lasted an incredible 222 days. Flash flood watches blanket the region.

This is feast from famine. Major drought-denting rainfall totals.

Why do we say wait 30 minutes after thunder before venturing outdoors?

Exhibit #4372. Lightning – cloud to ground – 70 miles away from the main precipitation core in Texas with this supercell. The anvil carries charge and occasionally sparks lightning.

Only takes one strike. Also a great example of shear. The storm is moving southeast, but the anvil east-northeast.

That change of wind speed/direction with height is what brewed the rotating updraft to begin with.