How The Winter Chill Affects Your Nose – National Weather Outlook For December 8, 2022

by | Dec 8, 2022 | Weather

National Weather Forecast

A system working through the middle of the nation on Thursday will bring showers, storms, snow, and ice. We’ll also watch rain and snow in the western United States.

Heavy rain continues in the Tennessee Valley, with over 3” possible for some through Friday. The heaviest snow will be in the Cascades.

_______________________________________________

Scientists finally know why people get more colds and flu in winter

More from CNN: “A chill is in the air, and you all know what that means — it’s time for cold and flu season, when it seems everyone you know is suddenly sneezing, sniffling or worse. It’s almost as if those pesky cold and flu germs whirl in with the first blast of winter weather. Yet germs are present year-round — just think back to your last summer cold. So why do people get more colds, flu and now Covid-19 when it’s chilly outside? In what researchers are calling a scientific breakthrough, scientists behind a new study may have found the biological reason we get more respiratory illnesses in winter. It turns out the cold air itself damages the immune response occurring in the nose.”

‘One Mississippi…’ How Lightning Shapes The Climate

More from NPR: “Evan Gora has never been struck by lightning, but he’s definitely been too close for comfort. ”When it’s very, very close, it just goes silent first,” says Gora, a forest ecologist who studies lightning in tropical forests. “That’s the concussive blast hitting you. I’m sure it’s a millisecond, but it feels super, super long … And then there’s just an unbelievable boom and flash sort of all at the same time. And it’s horrifying.” But if you track that lightning strike and investigate the scene, as Gora does, there’s usually no fire, no blackened crater, just a subtle bit of damage that a casual observer could easily miss. ”You need to come back to that tree over and over again over the next 6-18 months to actually see the trees die,” Gora says.”

Renewables to overtake coal and become world’s biggest source of electricity generation by 2025, IEA says

More from CNBC: “Renewables are on course to overtake coal and become the planet’s biggest source of electricity generation by the middle of this decade, according to the International Energy Agency. The IEA’s Renewables 2022 report, published Tuesday, predicts a major shift within the world’s electricity mix at a time of significant volatility and geopolitical tension. “The first truly global energy crisis, triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has sparked unprecedented momentum for renewables,” it said.“Renewables [will] become the largest source of global electricity generation by early 2025, surpassing coal,” it added.”

_______________________________________________

Follow me on:

Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

– D.J. Kayser