ALL-SKATE THURSDAY (6/17)
Written by: Brian Neudorff
If you're new to the all-skate format it's pretty easy to participate. This is your chance to ask any weather or earth-science related question, (I almost put ask any question but that could get dangerous) and we will do our best to answer it. I know there are still some questions out there that haven't been answered yet. Don't worry we are working on it or we like it so much that we will use as a possible blog topic in the future. If we haven't gotten to the question feel free to ask it again and we will look into it and answer.
How about this:
ReplyDeleteDo you really know why the sky appears blue?
why do fair weather (cumulus?) clouds form on some nice days and not others? does it have to do with how high, the high pressure is?
ReplyDeleteTo why is the sky blue - All the light we get from the sun is made up of wavelengths of different frequencies. We see a rainbow because water droplets act as a prism and separates the visible light into its different wavelengths from its longest (red) to shortest (blue). When that visible light passes through the atmosphere made up of various gases, Mostly Nitrogen & Oxygen the shortest wavelength or the color blue gets scattered better than the longer wavelengths of Red, Orange, Yellow & Green. That is why we see the color blue because the blue light is being scattered in all directions and it is the light or wavelength that is hitting our eyes. -Brian
ReplyDeleteWhen you look at a "current weather map" you see the locations of highs, lows, cold/warm fronts. What indicator(like wind/temp/pressure) is most important to showing you where the specific location of the high/lows are, if you were looking at a blank map?
ReplyDeleteWhy do some days have Fair Weather Cumulus and others don't. You make a good point by pointing out how strong an area of high pressure is. High pressure is sinking air basically. With really strong high pressure means you get really strong sinking air, which typically will not produce much if any cloud cover. If you get an area of high pressure that is not particularly strong you can form clouds by the mixing and some upward motion caused by the heating of the day. What can happen here for example is a day heats up the ground and you get a few thermal pockets ore more that cause the air to rise. This will form pockets or spotty clouds in the sky. Now they can only go so high because the atmosphere wants to be stable so as the clouds form the air eventually cools and then sinks back down giving you clouds that don't last long are small and only dotting the sky. - Brian
ReplyDeleteLooking at a weather map and determining low,high & front location is a GREAT question. That is a question better left answered in its own blog post so I will do that one tomorrow or Monday. - Brian
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeleteWhy did it turn so windy yesterday afternoon and evening across Rochester and points west, while other areas further south and east near Mt. Morris and Dansville barely saw any wind?
What determines where those thermal pockets will be, or is it more like chaos theory? Is it thermal pockets that can sometimes lead to the "pop corn" thunderstorms??
ReplyDelete