Hail can hit with any severe storm, and it can bring stones that fall at a rate that exceeds 110 mph. The size of the hailstones can also vary from pea sized pieces to some the size of a softball. When hail falls, it can damage your roof, windows, gutters, automobiles and siding. The following are the top ten hailstorms of the decade:

Exciting news in the world of climate science this week points to the discovery of a rainforest in Antarctica.

There are more than 17 million shipping containers throughout the world, a number that has steadily risen since the 1950's, when they first became an important means of moving goods across the globe. More are being manufactured simply because, in many cases, it is cheaper to make new ones than to return them from distant locations for re-use in shipping, according to a study [PDF] by EcoEthic Design Studio.

Geyser gazers in Yellowstone National Park are getting a rare opportunity to view sights not seen, in some cases for decades, as long-dormant geysers have come back to life.

On Friday, June 1, 2012 severe weather generated 9 weak tornadoes across Maryland, according to the National Weather Service. As the system that generated them approached, NASA's Aqua satellite gathered information about power behind it. NASA also created an animation of the severe weather as it was seen from NOAA's GOES-13 satellite.

A few great intentions have recently collided with some poorly researched “revelations,” causing an onslaught against lawns — all destroyed in the name of green. From encouraging well-meaning xeriscapes and artistic hardscapes, to every lawn annihilation you can imagine — the collective eco-consciousness has seemingly lost its proverbial mind.

Tracking marine debris from the Japanese tsunami

Debris from the tsunami that devastated Japan in March could reach the United States as early as this winter, according to predictions by NOAA scientists. However, they warn there is still a large amount of uncertainty over exactly what is still floating, where it's located, where it will go, and when it will arrive. Responders now have a challenging, if not impossible situation on their hands: How do you deal with debris that could now impact U.S. shores, but is difficult to find?

Federal agencies join forces

To learn more about the tsunami debris, NOAA researchers have been working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other partners to coordinate data collection activities.

NOAA and its partners are also coordinating an interagency assessment and response plan to address the wide-range of potential scenarios and threats posed by the debris.

A catastrophic landslide 22,500 years ago dammed the upper reaches of northern California's Eel River, forming a 30-mile-long lake which has since disappeared. It left a living legacy found today in the genes of the region's steelhead trout.

Using remote-sensing technology known as airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and hand-held global-positioning-systems (GPS) units, scientists recently found evidence for a late Pleistocene, landslide-dammed lake along the river.

Today the Eel river is 200 miles long, carved into the ground from high in the California Coast Ranges to the river's mouth in the Pacific Ocean in Humboldt County.

The evidence for the ancient landslide, which, scientists say, blocked the river with a 400-foot-wall of loose rock and debris, is detailed this week in a paper appearing on-line in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers from NOAA have discovered a potent and highly-debilitating toxin in the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, a first-of-its-kind chemical finding that is now prompting investigations of other marine mammals in the state.

The toxin, ciguatoxin, is produced by marine algae common on coral reefs, and accumulates in fish species that are consumed by humans. Ciguatera, the human disease caused by ciguatoxin, affects thousands of people every year worldwide and comes in the form of acute gastrointestinal and neurological illness with symptoms resembling chronic fatigue syndrome.

The study reveals that Hawaiian monk seals, whose population is estimated at 1100-1200, are exposed to significant levels of these ciguatoxins. The threat could pose management challenges for this species that has been dwindling at four percent annually due to poor foraging success and additional environmental and human factors.

Spring means gardening, and for many that means finding a way to keep gardens irrigated and growing strong. One increasingly popular way to do that is to harvest rainwater in barrels or other collection vessels.

In most rainwater harvesting systems, the water that is collected is runoff from roofs. But that raises a question: how do you know if the water that runs off your roof is clean and not contaminated?

To answer that question, the Texas Water Development Board funded a study to determine what type of roofing material is best suited for rainwater harvesting, even for rainwater to be used for “indoor domestic use.” The study [PDF Download] was conducted by faculty and students from the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. 

The study was led by architectural and environmental engineering Assistant Professor Mary Jo Kirisits and investigated five types of roofing material including metal, concrete tile and common asphalt fiberglass shingles.

One of the largest winter storms since the 1950s is affecting 30 U.S. states today with snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain. NASA satellites have gathering data on the storm that stretches from Texas and the Rockies to the New England states.

NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites have been providing visible, infrared and microwave looks at the storm system's clouds, precipitation, temperatures and extent.

Visible and infrared images and animations of the storm's clouds and movement are created every 15 minutes by the NASA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. using data from GOES-11 and GOES-13, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites. The GOES-13 and GOES-11 satellites that cover the eastern and western U.S., respectively, are operated by NOAA.

Many liberals were disappointed this week when The Washington Post missed an opportunity to shore up dwindling public support for global warming (a.k.a. climate change), along with overpopulation, the Transportation Security Administration, universal health care and other increasingly unpopular initiatives endorsed by left-of-center advocates. The Post could have promoted them all — in one fell swoop.

Instead, the paper reported on a consensus among experts that the sudden, nearly simultaneous mass demise of various species of birds and fish in Maryland, Arkansas and Kentucky were natural occurrences that occur from time to time and could not be attributed either to global warming, chemical/biological terrorist attacks or man-caused pollution, much less to End of the World scenarios à la Nostradamus, the Mayan calendar or biblical accounts of the Apocalypse.

Fire managers in Grand Canyon National Park are making plans to initiate a prescribed fire on the North Rim within the next few weeks.

The Walla Valley Prescribed Fire will be located in the Walla Valley and Point Sublime area, approximately ten miles west of the North Rim developed area. The fire will be bounded on the west side by the w6 road and the canyon rim, on the south and east sides by the canyon rim, and on the north and northeast sides by the w4 and Point Sublime (w1) roads. The Walla Valley burn unit consists primarily of ponderosa pine. Approximately 5,500 acres will be burned.