Who else here dislikes partly cloudy weather? (world, most, sunny)
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Well really, I don't care too much. Temps are the most important thing to me. As long as there's a few sunny days mixed in there somewhere, then cloud is okay.
Here in our oceanic climate we get a few afternoon t-storms not associated with any cold front. Here is an example. Apparently the high that day was 80°F, dew point around 60°F, so not hot nor really humid.
Frontal storms however seem to be the strongest ones, from time to time there are some nice structures like this one.
The first photo is the sort of cloud I'm am referring to. The typically get to about the stage in the pic, and then collapse. Only occasionally will they produce thunder.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nei
Ah. Whoops. I didn't realize Joe90 was responding specifically to the cloud formation you mentioned.
The partly cloudy cumulus skies I'm talking about are like the first photo here:
The first photo is the sort of cloud I'm am referring to. The typically get to about the stage in the pic, and then collapse. Only occasionally will they produce thunder.
How many times per year do they get to form anvil heads?
Really it doesn't need to be hot and humid to get have decent convection. Here is a photo (http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/653/imgp2758j.jpg - broken link) from the past Tuesday, the high was in the mid-60s and the dew point was hovering between the freezing mark in the afternoon to around 40°F during the "storms". There was no cold front either. The stronger spring sunshine associated with still cold airmasses seems to be sufficient to produce some instability.
How many times per year do they get to form anvil heads?
Really it doesn't need to be hot and humid to get have decent convection. Here is a photo (http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/653/imgp2758j.jpg - broken link) from the past Tuesday, the high was in the mid-60s and the dew point was hovering between the freezing mark in the afternoon to around 40°F during the "storms". There was no cold front either. The stronger spring sunshine associated with still cold airmasses seems to be sufficient to produce some instability.
Sure it happens without heat and humidity, but is more common in summer. These cloud types are associated with t-storms. To me the photo you posted is not as impressive as the lone towering cumulus clouds, in an otherwise clear blue sky, that you see in summer particularly in the US South(and probably other humid sub-tropical regions)
How many times per year do they get to form anvil heads?
Really it doesn't need to be hot and humid to get have decent convection. Here is a photo (http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/653/imgp2758j.jpg - broken link) from the past Tuesday, the high was in the mid-60s and the dew point was hovering between the freezing mark in the afternoon to around 40°F during the "storms". There was no cold front either. The stronger spring sunshine associated with still cold airmasses seems to be sufficient to produce some instability.
Also, if you believe you don't need heat and humidity to get decent convection, then why does your area have much less t-storm activity than the US South and Midwest, equitorial regions, etc.?
How many times per year do they get to form anvil heads?
Really it doesn't need to be hot and humid to get have decent convection. Here is a photo (http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/653/imgp2758j.jpg - broken link) from the past Tuesday, the high was in the mid-60s and the dew point was hovering between the freezing mark in the afternoon to around 40°F during the "storms". There was no cold front either. The stronger spring sunshine associated with still cold airmasses seems to be sufficient to produce some instability.
It's hard to estimate the amount of anvil heads in a year, but probably most of the formations I described form anvils. It is the forming of the anvil that blocks out the sun on the relatively narrow coastal strip and stalls the process.
Your photo is more typical of a winter T-storm here, which is when the majority of thunder occurs here. The cloud I'm talking about is stand alone, and is usually in an otherwise clear sky. There is an annual average of 12 T-storms on the immediate coast here and 25 in the mountains behind here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tom77falcons
Also, if you believe you don't need heat and humidity to get decent convection, then why does your area have much less t-storm activity than the US South and Midwest, equitorial regions, etc.?
It doesn't have to be that hot and humid to get decent convection, but it has to be sustained heat to get the level of storms you are talking about.
I prefer to have some sort of clouds in the sky. Would this be considered partly cloudy or mostly cloudy?
What about this?
I think the diff between pt. cloudy and mostly cloudy depend on what percentage of the day those conditions persist. The top and middle photo, if that were all day long would seem mostly cloudy to me, the last photo more pt. cloudy. Just my take though, others may disagree.
It's hard to estimate the amount of anvil heads in a year, but probably most of the formations I described form anvils. It is the forming of the anvil that blocks out the sun on the relatively narrow coastal strip and stalls the process.
Your photo is more typical of a winter T-storm here, which is when the majority of thunder occurs here. The cloud I'm talking about is stand alone, and is usually in an otherwise clear sky. There is an annual average of 12 T-storms on the immediate coast here and 25 in the mountains behind here.
It doesn't have to be that hot and humid to get decent convection, but it has to be sustained heat to get the level of storms you are talking about.
I agree with you, I just think heat and humidity make it much more common and more intense. Sometimes they happen in the springtime here and it is not as hot as summer, but are more frequent in summertime.
I doubt you see those cloud types in the US Southwest or Northwest except for monsoon season(Southwest) when humidity and dewpoints go up. Also, from living on the east coast and I can tell you they are much, much more common in the Southeast than here in summer.
This is an excerpt from the "summer weather" chapter of the Philadelphia Weather Book:
And this from an elementary climate book on convection:
Convective Lift- (Also see convection)
When the sun heats the ground, the warmed air at the surface will rise under the influence of convection. The rising thermals are similar to the hot bubbles of water that rise from the bottom of a boiling pot. If the air is stable, then the bubbles of warm air will form scattered fair weather cumulus clouds and not much else. If the air is unstable, then the lifting from convection will lead to rapid growth of clouds into deep cumulonimbus clouds, or thunderstorms. The higher the surface temperatures, the more convection can occur
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