ANOTHER ALL SKATE THURSDAY
Written by: Brian Neudorff
Decided it was time to open the forum to all of you our readers. We've noticed a lot of you are quieter than you were during the winter. Well here is your chance to ask us some of those burning question we all know you are dying to ask. Maybe there was something we didn't cover in last Saturday's Severe Weather Special. Whatever weather or earth science related topic you want to ask us about her is your chance.
Hi Brian. I was wondering if you could tell me what an "inversion" is...
ReplyDeleteI hear you guys talk about upper levels lows or upper air disturbance. What does that mean when its upper level or upper air?
ReplyDeleteWhen we mention an inversion we are talking about a temperature inversion. When you go higher up in altitude most think of the temperature cooling as you go up. That is typically the case but sometimes the temperature will stay the same or in some situation increase as you go up in altitude. This is where we would find and talk about a temperature inversion. -Brian
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeleteMy family and I get ready each morning to your friendly forecasts. We think you're great! Are you going to be at the lilac festival, as well? We'd like to meet you all.
I remember a month or so ago when we had that crazy fog within a few miles of the lake. Thats when it was like 45 on the north side of the county, and 80 in Henrietta. You stated that it was a marine layer. My question is, what factors caused such a crazy day like that? How rare is it to get a true marine layer around these parts?
ReplyDeleteI got a question about something i've noticed on the lake shore during the mid-summer. I have a cottage on the lakeshore of Orleans county. Every now and then, seemingly out of nowhere, a powerful onshore wind will pick up around sunset. I'm talking strong winds sustained at at least 30 MPH. The waves spray on the shore like crazy. This happens right on the shore. But if you literally walk 1/4 mile inland, the wind is calm, and remains calm. This event has happened on clear, calm days when there are NO fronts or storms anywhere nearby. It isn't accompanied by any colder temps like a sea breeze, either. And it happens around sunset when the lake breeze would have already happened hours ago.
ReplyDeleteI've seen this happen multiple times. Could you tell me what causes it??
I should also note that the wind doesn't gradually increase, it just swoops in very abruptly. It is also very sustained rather than gusty once it arrives. It only lasts for about 45 minutes then abruptly ends. Really quite strange. If any of you can take a shot at answering it, it would be great.
ReplyDeletei've always wondered what is that smell you sometimes smell before it rains?
ReplyDeleteTo the person about the Marine Layer - In the situation we saw with the Marine Layer back in March we had a very unusual warm air for that time of year running over a much colder lake.
ReplyDeleteThe depth of the marine layer depends upon the large scale weather patterns the pass overhead. High pressure systems (at 15,000 to 30,000 feet) tends to squish the marine layer down near the surface. When the inversion is very strong and relatively shallow, the coastal clouds and foggy weather will be confined to the beaches with warm, sunny conditions beginning just a mile or so inland. -Brian
With regards to the strong sustain lake wind right around sunset I need to look into that a little more
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, "what is that smell you sometimes smell before it rains?" most of the time it is the rain or what the rain has stirred up before it arrives. Rain is cleaning the air and a lot of time as the rain falls it causes a breeze that pushes ahead of the rain. So it is cleaning the air we are smelling some of the dirt and other things it may pick up as it reaches us.
This might be a stupid question but when you talk about relative humidity, what does the "relative" part mean? Is it different from another kind of humidity?
ReplyDeleteNot a stupid question at all. In fact it is quite common. Relative humidity is just that... relative. It is relative to the temperature and moisture content of the air. The information below came from a blog post I did in July of 2007
ReplyDeleteHere is an example of what I mean.
On a hot, sticky, rather uncomfortable summer day you could have an outside temperature of 92 with a dew point temperature of 68 (which is listed in the uncomfortable zone in the chart above) this would give you a relative humidity of about 46%
On a pleasant, warm yet comfortable spring day you could have an outside temperature of 72 with a dew point temperature of 55 (which is listed as pleasant in the chart above) you would have a relative humidity of about 55%
Although the summer day feels more humid than the spring day its relative humidity is actually lower.
The dew point temperature is the temperature at which the air can no longer hold all of its water vapor, and some of the water vapor must condense into liquid water. At 100% relative humidity, the dew point temperature and the air temperature are the same, and clouds or fog can begin to form. While relative humidity is a relative measure of how humid it is, the dew point temperature is an absolute measure of how much water vapor is in the air (how humid it is). In very warm, humid conditions, the dew point temperature can reach 75 to 77 degrees F, but rarely exceeds 80 degrees.
I am still looking for comments on man's attempts to deliberately alter precipitation--
ReplyDeleteas in 'Seeding' clouds-
For instance: Moscow's futile attempt at 'steering the snow' away from the city--
What did they do?-- and why did it not work?
Thanks, Brian. I never knew how dew point was used, but it makes sense now. That's why I always hear the mets talk about dewpoint in the summer. Seems to be the best measure of how comfortable we feel on warm days.
ReplyDeleteWhen are you guys going to be at the lilac festival? Will you be reporting from there tonight? I want to make sure I go there when there are some famous faces, and you guys are sort of like local celebreties lol.
ReplyDelete