Weather Watching

Palomar · 2003-09-11 06:19:33

Byron: "In case any of you would like to keep tabs on Isabel, here's an excellent site... 2003 Hurricane Site"

*Oh good...I'll definitely check it out; thanks.

Byron: "P.S. I can't wait until the Hurricane Hunters start making their runs into Isabel (when it draws a bit closer). Those boys are going to be in for a bit of a ride! <gives salute to these brave souls> "

*Hey Byron, do the "hurricane hunters" head out for -every- hurricane after it reaches a certain Category? I've seen a few documentaries about these folks. There's a spectacular photo in my book, taken from one of those airplanes in the eye of a hurricane; of course, they are totally surrounded by massive white banks of clouds and up above is the sun peering down from a bright blue sky. Surreal! Brave is an understatement, lol. Any little thing goes wrong with your plane...

--Cindy

::EDIT::

Byron: "When I read your post about smell and taste in your dreams, and how rare that's supposed to be. I took a few minutes to try and remember whether I've experienced smell or taste in my dreams...and I couldn't recall any examples of experiencing those two senses in my dreams. But just last night, I was taking my pills as part of an asthma study I've just been enrolled in, and I noticed they had a bitter taste to them, as opposed to placebos which can sometimes have a sweet taste to them (as these are usually made of sugar.) Well, I had a dream early this morning in which I actually bit down on one of my "morning" pills (I take 4 per day, only the evening ones have the bitter taste,) and I *distinctly remember* it having a sweet taste, as I if was eating a peice of candy. Isn't that weird, or what?? So I know I can at least "taste" stuff in my dreams..LOL...so we'll see what we can do about smelling things in dreamland..."

*Try this: Before you go to sleep, suggest to yourself that at some point in your dreams you'll stop whatever you're doing, raise your hands and look at the palms of them in your dream. It's allegedly a "toughie"...I've managed it twice.

Palomar · 2003-09-11 10:56:30

Clouds Near Marsian Volcano

*Decided to put this here, rather than "New Discoveries *2*" thread, since we Earthlings are now also watching Marsian weather.

In my _Watching Weather_ book, the weather patterns of Venus, Mars, and the gas giants are also discussed.

I tried to locate the precise photograph used in the book from the Mars Global Surveyor, on the internet. No such luck. The above photo is the best I could find.

Here is what the book says about clouds forming around Marsian volcanoes:

"...several Martian volcanoes are visible in an area called the Tharsis region. The whitish areas of haze are water-ice clouds, possibly similar to cirrus clouds here on Earth. They are formed by orographic uplift, where warm air containing moisture rises up the slopes of each volcano, causing cooling and freezing of the water vapor."

--Cindy

Byron · 2003-09-11 12:57:42

Hey Byron, do the "hurricane hunters" head out for -every- hurricane after it reaches a certain Category? I've seen a few documentaries about these folks. There's a spectacular photo in my book, taken from one of those airplanes in the eye of a hurricane; of course, they are totally surrounded by massive white banks of clouds and up above is the sun peering down from a bright blue sky. Surreal! Brave is an understatement, lol. Any little thing goes wrong with your plane...

Yes, the Hurricane Hunters pretty much investigate every tropical system (even very weak ones) whenever they come within flying range of Puerto Rico or the mainland U.S. The first flight into Isabel is scheduled for Friday afternoon.

I guess I can breathe a *little* easier, as the forcast track has been shifted a bit to the north, and it is expected to turn more to the north in five days, which would steer it away from Florida, at least. Still a good chance it may hit the U.S., though...

B

Byron · 2003-09-11 16:01:35

Update on Isabel...it is now a Cat 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale..160-mph winds. Good thing it's still out in the open ocean where it belongs!

While the risk to the state of Florida has been greatly diminished at this point (whew!), the Carolinas are still under the gun for a possible impact. Hopefully the cooler "shelf" water near these coasts will weaken the storm if it does make eventual landfall...

B

Palomar · 2003-09-12 07:25:50

Update on Isabel...it is now a Cat 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale..160-mph winds. Good thing it's still out in the open ocean where it belongs!
While the risk to the state of Florida has been greatly diminished at this point (whew!), the Carolinas are still under the gun for a possible impact. Hopefully the cooler "shelf" water near these coasts will weaken the storm if it does make eventual landfall...
B

*Why isn't this more of a news item in the general media?? Honestly, you're the only source for news on Isabel. Maybe I'm switching off the TV or walking out of the room at the wrong moment. ::shrugs::

Interesting. I can't imagine living with that threat for months on end, though. I'm glad I don't live on, or anywhere near, the Atlantic coast.

The following was shared by a member of my "Age of Voltaire" group named Armand (from France); there were some serious weather watchers amongst our illustrious founders. Armand recommended the book _Weather Watching_ to me:

"The first weather observations in the New World
were those made by the Reverend John Campanius at
the Swedes' Fort, near present-day Wilmington,
Delaware, in 1644-5. The first thermometre and
barometer measurements were made in the 1730s by
John Lining, a Scottish-born resident of Charleston,
in South Carolina.
The United States was fortunate that prominent
figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin,
and Georg Washington took a great interest in meterology
Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) was a keen weather-watcher
and the inventor of the lightning conductor. On
the basis of newspaper reports he demonstrated that in
October 1743, a storm had moved northeast-ward from Georgia
to Massachusetts. This is the first record analysis of the
movement of a storm system.
Legend has it that Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) acquired his
first thermometre while writing the Declaration of Independence
and his first barometer, a few days after document was signed.

For over 50 years, Jefferson make regular weather records, and
between 1776 and 1778 he and college professor James Madison
made the first simultaneous weather observations in America.
George Washington also kept a regular weather diary. His
notes for 13 December 1799 are thought to be the last words
he ever wrote".

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-09-13 05:54:55

*Hey Byron, lo and behold: A lengthy segment on ABC news last evening about Isabel! They compared her current strength as rivaling that of Hurricane Andrew. It's a very "tight", organized system.

As for Typhoon Maemi, Yahoo! news reported today that the storm has already killed 48 people.

--Cindy

Byron · 2003-09-13 06:01:42

This is a quote straight from the NHC this morning (5am):

High uncertainties continue at longer range. The consistent and good performer UK model has the hurricane near the coast of North Carolina between 5 and 6 days. On the other hand...the reliable GFDL turns Isabel northward in five days at a good distance away from the U.S east coast. Because both models have been very good so far...the official forecast is in between these two models. At this time...I would not even discuss the GFS which moves the hurricane
eastward for the first 12 to 18 hours in the latest 00z run and
Isabel is already west of 60 degrees west. However...the large scale pattern provided by the GFS is quite reasonable.
Note: there are no dynamical models suggesting that Isabel might ever reach Florida.
Forecaster Avila

I really like that last line there... <Sighs>

But hurricane season is still far from being over...

B

Byron · 2003-09-14 05:39:13

While I can breathe easier...I'm now panicking on the behalf of my sister in Washington DC. Isabel is expected to cut up to the northwest in two days, come inland at the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and then move north-northwest (very rare for a storm to do this..something like 2x a century)...on up over the Chesapeake Bay, near Washington DC, and then up into PA.

The thing that's so scary is that it's supposed to accelerate before hitting land, which means it won't have time to weaken much, even well inland. If it hits Washington DC, it is expected to have winds well in excess of 100-mph, even after a full day of coming inland!

Potentially very bad news for this area, as the "urban forests" of the big cities in this part of the United States will not be able to withstand such high wind speeds, which would mean great hardship for millions of people, my sister's family included.

I will keep you apprised of the updated forecasts...as I'm sure the media will too...

B

Palomar · 2003-09-14 10:21:12

While I can breathe easier...I'm now panicking on the behalf of my sister in Washington DC. Isabel is expected to cut up to the northwest in two days, come inland at the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and then move north-northwest (very rare for a storm to do this..something like 2x a century)...on up over the Chesapeake Bay, near Washington DC, and then up into PA.
The thing that's so scary is that it's supposed to accelerate before hitting land, which means it won't have time to weaken much, even well inland. If it hits Washington DC, it is expected to have winds well in excess of 100-mph, even after a full day of coming inland!
Potentially very bad news for this area, as the "urban forests" of the big cities in this part of the United States will not be able to withstand such high wind speeds, which would mean great hardship for millions of people, my sister's family included.
I will keep you apprised of the updated forecasts...as I'm sure the media will too...
B

*Good grief. Well, here's hoping Isabel will serve east-ward before coming any closer to land. I read yesterday that Isabel had been "downgraded" to Category 4; its winds were "down" to 150 mph.

Another scary thing about hurricanes are all the tornados they are capable of spawning.

Best wishes to your sister and everyone else.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-09-16 19:09:13

South Pole Rescue Delayed: Bad Weather

*Oh boy.

--Cindy

Byron · 2003-09-18 05:57:31

Thar she blows....

Isabel is now approaching the North Carolina coast with winds of 105 mph....

Any of you watching the Weather Channel this morning? I certainly am. I have nothing but pure admiration for those brave reporters reporting from the beaches as the storm approaches...these people really love their jobs!

B

Palomar · 2003-09-18 07:13:12

Thar she blows....
Isabel is now approaching the North Carolina coast with winds of 105 mph....
Any of you watching the Weather Channel this morning? I certainly am. I have nothing but pure admiration for those brave reporters reporting from the beaches as the storm approaches...these people really love their jobs!
B

*Dear Hurricane Isabel:

Kindly reverse your current inland direction, turn back to the ocean and travel hundreds of miles southward until you reach Florida. Bryon wants to get a better, closer view of you.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Cindy

Yeah, Byron: I've been catching bits and pieces of live coverage on TV. Just saw a male reporter hunched down against the rain, talking loudly into the mike to be heard over Isabel's winds. This was at Nags Head, N.C.

What a hoot!

--Cindy

Byron · 2003-09-18 07:17:45

*Dear Hurricane Isabel:
Kindly reverse your current inland direction, turn back to the ocean and travel hundreds of miles southward until you reach Florida. Bryon wants to get a better, closer view of you.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.

No need...there'll be others coming this way, for sure... :laugh:

Gosh, I just can't get enough of the those monster-sized waves they're showing on TV...

B

Shaun Barrett · 2003-09-18 07:26:34

Hi guys!
I've heard that New York City is built tough to withstand cyclonic winds. Isn't Washington D.C. built to the same specifications?
???

(If not, why not?!!)

Palomar · 2003-09-19 05:48:07

Hi guys!
I've heard that New York City is built tough to withstand cyclonic winds. Isn't Washington D.C. built to the same specifications?
???
(If not, why not?!!)

*This was posted by Armand, a member of my "Age of Voltaire" Yahoo! Group; he's a weather watcher as well, and admires Benjamin Franklin. I thought I'd share it here, due to the weather connection:

Large ash clouds have a significant effect
on weather patterns because they reflect a
certain amount of incoming solar radiation
back into space, inhibiting the heating effect
of the sun. This was first noted by Benjamin
Franklin after a volcanic eruption in Iceland
in 1783, when he discovered that sunlight directed
through a magnifying glass would no longer set
fire to a piece of paper.

---

*Shaun: I'm not sure. This sounds vaguely familiar. After 9/11, though, I think more of fortification against terrorist attacks than against weather phenomenon.

And according to a "scale" I saw the other day on the news, the Washington, D.C. area seldom gets hit directly by hurricanes; North Carolina is, statistically speaking, the favorite target of hurricanes.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-10-14 12:53:53

Mammatus Clouds

*These are really cool-looking clouds. We get them occasionally in our area. I first recall seeing them around 1978, in my Iowa hometown. There was a patch of them in the SE sky; they were extremely well defined, and looked like gigantic marshmallows poked into the undersides of the host cloud above them. Eerie, but pretty.

They are called "mammatus" because they are shaped like mammary glands.

I've never seen these, however (iridescent clouds):

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

BTW, Byron, I guess the Atlantic is having a slow hurricane season? It's been a while since Isabel slammed the east coast.

--Cindy

Byron · 2003-10-14 13:36:39

BTW, Byron, I guess the Atlantic is having a slow hurricane season? It's been a while since Isabel slammed the east coast.

It's gotten a bit slow as of late, but Bastardi is still harping about the late-season threat to South Florida. He says that conditions are growing more favorable in the deep Caribbean for one more big storm to develop...so we'll have to wait and see...

B

Palomar · 2003-10-28 16:27:22

Your line about the rain from smoke clouds reminds me of a harrowing journey I made in early July of 1998 to the northern part of Florida (from the south) during the time of a major outbreak of wildfires...
...
Then excitement quickly turned to raw fear as we drove right into the thick of it - nasty, acrid smoke filtering inside the car as we drove past charred remains of what *used* to be forest. The scariest part of the journey came a few moments later, when we actually drove through the path of the fire...with actual flames on both sides of the road licking the tires of my car! Damn, I was scared out of my mind. You couldn't see more than a few feet, and while everyone kept moving, I was so afraid of getting stuck and not being able to breathe amid all the smoke (the smoke from fire is really what kills most people in these kinds of situations.)

*Byron, I was thinking about this incident while watching some news coverage about the massive southern California wildfires. Saw at least 2 burnt-out cars; people had been in them, and died trying to escape. I hope to god they were unconscious from smoke inhalation before their clothes ignited. How horrible.

One lady witnessed a fiery tornado; it rushed toward her house -- she said it was a flaming funnel.

One fireman witnessed the fire jump ahead of itself, another well-known phenomenon. A different fireman said the fire was creating its own wind, which seems common. Too bad a few of those rain-bearing clouds don't form out of the smoke and help with the putting-out process.

This is awful. After all I've seen, you were damned lucky to get out of that situation. I know you know that, but I just kind of have to repeat it.

--Cindy

Byron · 2003-10-29 06:18:31

Monstrous fires in SoCal, and the Sun is becoming awfully restless these days...Big, bad flare on the way

What's next??

B

Palomar · 2003-11-13 15:17:55

Monstrous fires in SoCal, and the Sun is becoming awfully restless these days...Big, bad flare on the way
What's next??
B

Byron Had To Ask...

*..."what's next?!"

Freak storm pummels southern California. Guess CA isn't the place to live these days...they're getting a taste of what it's like to live in Oklahoma, lol.

--Cindy

P.S.: Byron, seems Hurricane Season is a dud this year, huh?

Byron · 2003-11-25 06:28:17

As we approach the end of hurricane season (sniff...sniff), I like to look northward at the advancement of winter moving southward into the United States. This year, as per the trend of recent years, winter is arriving late, at least in the South and East. But checking the latest forecasts, it looks like the endless fall is about to come to an end....the Iceman cometh!...Yes! So it looks like my folks in North Carolina will see their first frost before November runs out after all (which has NEVER happened...but talk about taking it down to the wire this year...lol..)

One of my favorite sites I like to look at in the winter months is the Mt. Washington website, which gives fascinating journal accounts of weather observers at the top of the 6300-foot tall mountain in New Hampshire...how I would just love to have a chance to serve as a weather observer up there!

Check it out to see what I'm talking about...Mt. Washington.org website

B

Palomar · 2003-11-25 07:58:21

As we approach the end of hurricane season (sniff...sniff), I like to look northward at the advancement of winter moving southward into the United States. This year, as per the trend of recent years, winter is arriving late, at least in the South and East. But checking the latest forecasts, it looks like the endless fall is about to come to an end....the Iceman cometh!...Yes! So it looks like my folks in North Carolina will see their first frost before November runs out after all (which has NEVER happened...but talk about taking it down to the wire this year...lol..)
One of my favorite sites I like to look at in the winter months is the Mt. Washington website, which gives fascinating journal accounts of weather observers at the top of the 6300-foot tall mountain in New Hampshire...how I would just love to have a chance to serve as a weather observer up there!
Check it out to see what I'm talking about...Mt. Washington.org website

B

*Hi Byron: It's been a rather slow hurricane season, huh? I'm thinking very atypical. I was going to make another comment (post) on this soon; I guess this is a good time. I have heard nothing about any hurricanes except the one a few months ago. I thought the weather forecasters were predicting a really turbulent year in that regard?

Mt. Washington in NH. I've heard stories on the Weather Channel and Discovery. Pretty wild. I'll check the site...thanks.

--Cindy

P.S.: I mentioned forest fires in one of the last posts I made in this thread, particularly the phenomenon of "tornadoes of fire." I did happen to see a fire tornado caught on video; very wicked looking. I'd be terrified; don't think I could stand there with a camera, even 1/2 mile away.

Palomar · 2003-11-30 14:50:22

"Atlantic Hurricane Season Unusually Busy" (original story tagline)

*Well gee whiz, I guess most media outlets have been unusually quiet about it, except for this teensy-weensy little tidbit.

Must be another one of those "it doesn't matter unless it's happening within U.S. borders" things...

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-12-30 07:50:44

The Brocken Spectre

*It's been a long time, but I remember reading about this phenomenon as a kid.

Apparently the photo in the link wasn't taken in Germany however, but in the Canary Islands. Hmmmm. So I guess it's the La Palma Spectre.

There is a link to another image as well.

I think it's easy to understand how people in the old days (or even nowadays, who are unaware of the explanation) would have found this to be spooky.

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2003-12-30 20:44:10

Interesting! I'd never heard of it.
You learn something new every day!

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