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Very cool post! Click the tweet to see the animation of what they are talking about. Very cool.
The Day Cloud Phase Distinction imagery from GOES-East. It's a combo of 3 channels of satellite imagery into an RGB image. It detects ice in the clouds which helps predict a building storm and lightning
Dust devils form on hot days when small, ground-based whirls are stretched upward by rising air just above the ground. That stretching mechanism concentrates the vortex radially, all the while helping it to grow taller and more intense. On occasion, the same updraft responsible for generating the dust devil can also bloom a small cumulus cloud above it
In the case of Walters’s catch Monday, it’s likely that the coal may have helped generate a local updraft. That’s because the dust, which is black, is a better absorber of heat than the green, brown, and sandy landscape in the background. That allows the surface air above the stockyard to rise while slightly cooler, denser air sinks down the nearby hills to replace it. That may have both spurred the instigating eddy to begin with and allowed it to grow quickly upward.
Most dust devils are weak, usually only a few feet wide and with winds to 40 mph. In some instances, they can be a bit stronger — with 50-65 mph winds. They are roughly the land equivalent in intensity of non-tornadic waterspouts over the water.
Coal dust is highly flammable, which means this funnel theoretically could have combusted if exposed to a source of ignition. Would that have qualified it as a firewhirl? Briefly. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. Instead, the curious phenomenon provided a source of afternoon whimsy.
Hey Cambium - great thread over the years. Think it would be worth discussing the types of air masses and their characteristics, since the jet streams represent the boundaries between those air masses, and that the reason for the big precipitation of winter lows is the collision of warm marine tropical air with its dry, cold, arctic counterpart (with moisture contributions from the cooler marine midlatitude air). It's the stark contrast of these qualities that makes phasing as important as it is.
Contrast that with most winter lows in the southern US, where the contrast is between the marine tropical air and the not-as-cold, dry midlatitude (the technical term is "polar", but that's confusing) air mass.
Contrast that with most winter lows in the southern US, where the contrast is between the marine tropical air and the not-as-cold, dry midlatitude (the technical term is "polar", but that's confusing) air mass.
Yeah, the term is used because the airmass would be from the Polar Regions. I hear "Arctic" more than "Polar" although Polar seems to be happening more often.
Correct it doesn't mean its going to be "polar" temperatures in the south. But between the dryness and the cold the Polar Airmasses bring, it would below normal temps and dews.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ADCS
Hey Cambium - great thread over the years. Think it would be worth discussing the types of air masses and their characteristics, since the jet streams represent the boundaries between those air masses, and that the reason for the big precipitation of winter lows is the collision of warm marine tropical air with its dry, cold, arctic counterpart (with moisture contributions from the cooler marine midlatitude air). It's the stark contrast of these qualities that makes phasing as important as it is.
It would be a great discussion, hard to do in 1 post. Plus I'm not a Met so I'm limited with knowledge and time.
Did you know Spring is the windiest season of the year? As we gradually transition from winter to summer, the clash of contrasting air masses generates stronger wind
Yeah, the term is used because the airmass would be from the Polar Regions. I hear "Arctic" more than "Polar" although Polar seems to be happening more often.
Correct it doesn't mean its going to be "polar" temperatures in the south. But between the dryness and the cold the Polar Airmasses bring, it would below normal temps and dews.
It would be a great discussion, hard to do in 1 post. Plus I'm not a Met so I'm limited with knowledge and time.
Did you know Spring is the windiest season of the year? As we gradually transition from winter to summer, the clash of contrasting air masses generates stronger wind
The real confusing part is that polar air masses tend to be equatorward of the (ant)arctic air masses.
And yes, springtime is windiest because of the increased solar flux in equatorward regions that has not yet reached poleward regions. This creates a greater temperature and pressure differential (read: wind) between the equator and pole compared to any other time of the year. The same is not true of autumn, since equatorward regions heat up faster than poleward regions cool.
With warm air screaming in as energy aloft arrives, storms can spin - most favorable in NE US today is Pennsylvania - here's a map of forecast rotation paths
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