On Monday, June 30, 2014, flooding, downed trees and fires caused by lightning strikes snarled traffic, cut power and delayed or canceled hundreds of flights in and out of Chicago, Illinois. Steve Pitstick of Pitstick Farms in northern Illinois caught some of the storm clouds of this heavy-weather day on film.
Illinois was said to be hit particularly hard in Monday’s storms, but the central U.S. as a whole had tornadoes, high winds, hail and heavy rains that day. By Tuesday morning, hundreds of thousands of people were without power and trying to clean up damaged homes and roadways, according to the National Weather Service.
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.
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