The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
-Psalm 19:1

Do you know that God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?
-Job 37:15



Thursday, July 24, 2008

Turn Around Don't Drown... Texas, Dolly!!

Happy Sky Watch Friday!! It's post time!!! (Please visit our host, Tom, Klaus, Sandy and Imac's Sky Watch blog (click here or on the logo to participate) to participate in Sky Watch Fridays. So much fun!!! I highly recommend it!) Today, I have chosen a shot of a cumulus congestus (Latin word congestus means: A HEAPING TOGETHER) ... or a cumulus tower. A cumulus tower (TCu) is what occurs when moisture meets instability. In a cumulus tower, you are seeing strong updraft, which is air being lifted to higher levels in the atmosphere, when colder air forces warm air up. The higher the tower is, the more updraft you are witnessing. In this case, the cumulus clouds were rising extremely high into the atmosphere, beginning to block the sun... thunderstorms were the result (key ingredients for a thunderstorm are moisture, instability and lift).... as well as buckets of rainfall. When you start to see lots of these forming, you can expect a doozy. Unfortunately, this shot is interrupted by the ever present cell phone tower which seem to be popping up everywhere these days... mucking up the scenery. Down in the bottom right of this shot, you see crepuscular rays, which I love.

Now, onto the now Tropical Storm Dolly. Yesterday Hurricane Dolly made landfall in South Padre Island as a category 2 hurricane, with 100mph winds slamming southeastern Texas, knocking out power, knocking down trees, damaging structures along the coast and dropping buckets and buckets... and buckets of rain. Seriously, heavily convected Dolly packed a WET punch and slowing down to turtle pace has made her presence very well known, with MORE THAN 10 inches of rain having fallen in some areas of southern Texas, but you can see in this current satellite capture that she is still going!! Of course, as with any land falling tropical cyclone, the danger of tornadoes exists. In fact, that purple box represents a tornado warning in that area.

Outside of TS Dolly, we have the very b r o a d area of underconvected low pressure out by the Cape Verde Islands, which has a slim chance of development, but it is the next thing on the "radar". Could we be looking at the future Edouard??? If so, he's a monster!Bf and I are headed to the mountains of NC this weekend to do a little waterfall exploration... I should have some great photographs to share after this trip. A huge thank you to EG Tour Guide for teaching me how to cross things out!!! :O)

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop

55 comments:

  1. Beautiful, beautiful clouds. I love your work.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those clouds are smokin'.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A really beautiful cloud formation!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a great cloud photo!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thats certainly some cloud, and weather reports too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wowee! Nice tower and, as always, wonderful information. Thanks, Dew.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You need to write a picture book so I could have a handy reference guide!
    Lovely image - my favorite kind of sky.
    NC and waterfalls - near the Highlands section perhaps - LOVELY!
    Will check back for pics.
    Have a wonderful time.
    Love the music today.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The cumulous clouds are indeed gorgeous. Not much we can do about the cell phone towers, I'm afraid...until science comes up with better technology. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Such a gigantic cumulus tower, Dewdrop. It dwarfs the poor human made tower. I like your information. This is the place to come to to find the facts.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great photos and the music really fits the weather scene too!
    ann at varying seasons

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lovely photos, those clouds are wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I can always count on learning something when visiting! Thanks for that and a dewrific SWF post!
    Cheers, Klaus

    ReplyDelete
  13. Very nice Cumulus cloud... hoping to see some soon ... we have had hot temps here for days! Whew...
    Mountain Retreat Photos and
    Fishing Fiesta

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow! What a gorgeous shot... and i enjoyed the information about clouds and storms. We've had lots of these lately, though mercifully the sky is clear at the moment. Whew.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great shots and Information! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Terriffic clouds. Thanks for the info, too!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Great shot of the clouds!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Those are some awesome clouds!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Your posts have been better than the Weather Channel or CNN.

    It's hot (100+) and very dry here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

    I like the music.

    You do a great, great job with your posts.


    Watch the Alligator.
    Come visit,
    Troy and Martha

    ReplyDelete
  20. Happy weekend! Perfect one for SWF! We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon.... Mine's up too hope you can drop by...

    ReplyDelete
  21. Great picture - and i loved the information part too...What you know about clouds...impressive:))

    ReplyDelete
  22. Wonderful Sky Watch-post,as usual!

    ReplyDelete
  23. That cloud formation is just so awesome...can't tell you how much I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  24. You really know your stuff. It's an education to read and pleasure to view such fabulous images.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Wow these are just the best clouds. Happy SWF and hope you have a good weekend away getting photos.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I like the idea of a tower of clouds, and that is a great photo to illustrate it.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I guess now would be an appropriate time to be dramatic about Dolly...Edouardo? I won't even go there. I hope you have an awesome time in NC. I LOVE it up there. Waterfalls are awesome, but hiking up to them--not so much. I think they should install golf cart paths, or rent out donkeys at the very least!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Beautiful picture..even with the cell tower..Happy SWF!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Waht beautiful clouds! Great shot!!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Dew: Did you make a joke? Texas Dolly is a famous poker player named Doyle Brunson.
    That is a beautiful cloud photo today.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Great shot, bad storm. YIKES!!

    ReplyDelete
  32. That is such a generous sky! It's like explosion!

    Hope you can hop by my SWF post HERE. Happy weekends!

    ReplyDelete
  33. ...and we can see many faces in this clouds, in conformit with our criativety!

    Have a nice weeken.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Oh my! Those are powerful looking cumulus clouds!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Billowing clouds are so dramatic! Love this one!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Nice sky and the info is great. Happy SWF....

    ReplyDelete
  37. soft cuddly pillowy sky!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Excellent Picture, Song, and information ... and I have only just notice the Frog and the Dew Drop Inn.. :O)

    Please forgive this 'copy & paste part of my comment but I am on my rounds checking all the links but wanted you to know I have seen your post and will try to get back again.
    On behalf of all other Sky Watchers the team thank you for taking part this week.

    Tom

    ReplyDelete
  39. WOW!!! This is amazing, you have just make my day great while looking at you friday sky watch…

    It’s fantastic.. Thanks for sharing this… More for this next time.. See you around!

    Happy Friday!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Thanks to everyone for the kind remarks about the cloud photograph. I am grateful to God for sharing these masterpieces with me.

    Sandy, Such an honor being a part of SWF with you. Such a kind lady.

    Love the Smokin' comment, Jump Back.

    Imac, glad to share the weather reports.

    Pat, You're welcome... my pleasure, really!

    Carletta, You have no idea what kind of inspiration your comment was for me. I might just have to do that. WE ARE GOING TO THE HIGHLANDS!!! I will post pics when I get back most likely!

    YEGTG, I can't wait until it does.

    Julie, glad you enjoy the info I share.

    Ann, I seek out appropriate weather music even if some people (no names--- Rick) don't appreciate all of them... it's ok because there's always TOMORROW!

    Klaus, dewrific! Love it!

    Michele, I hope you do, too. Aren't they terrific?

    Raven, You must be up north?

    Donna and Maria, my pleasure.

    Troy and Martha, Holy cow! What an amazing compliment! Loved the gator. Sorry he interupted your sky... lol

    Fugazi, Impressive... thanks. I soak in all I can.

    Anne, Thanks!

    Babooshka, I try. Glad you enjoy your visits.

    Lilli, Thanks. Sure we will!

    Suzanne, Thanks! It'll be great!

    Annie, lol, you crack me up! I can't wait! I am reading a book right now that I want to give you when I am done. I think you could do the same thing as this lady!!!

    Kim, yeah, I guess it wasn't all bad.

    Fishing guy, yeah... had no clue... lol!

    Rachel, BAD storm? Does not compute.

    Jenn (great name, btw), an explosion... interesting... that's actually what it is, an explosion of instability and moisture.

    Luiz, many faces? interesting.

    Tom, lol, I got that from you!

    Jeff and Nova, You're welcome!

    ReplyDelete
  41. You are so knowlegeable & this sky is awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  42. Thanks, Lily. It's a subject very near and dear to my heart!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Living in oklahoma, i'm use to tornados etc... if u'r storm chasing here in OKC ever, drop me line. your photo's are really neat!

    Kelly

    ReplyDelete
  44. Add to above comment, my father lives in Houston and Dolly is showing her strength, I hear!

    Kelly

    ReplyDelete
  45. Looks like a great cloud and I like the cellphone tower too. It adds dimensions to the cloud.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Hi! Great looking picture again. I'm almost sure, within any second now the cloud is going to fry that tower with a good size lightning. There's this tension and anxiety in that picture.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Hello from Colorado. What great looking clouds.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Good report. Beautiful shot. Nice song.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Love those great puffy clouds! I never knew about the towers - we have had a lot of them in this past couple of weeks!
    Have a wonderful weekend of beautiful skies! My Sky Watch Photos Here and Here

    ReplyDelete
  50. Kelly, thanks... I can't imagine being "used to tornadoes", but cool. I appreciate your compliment. Dolly was a drencher, for sure. Any pics?

    Chrome3D, I like the dimension.

    System operator... fry the tower... funny.

    Hey Tommy! Enjoy your vacation!

    Luiz, thanks.

    Kahshe, Aren't they great?!

    ReplyDelete

Dew comment, please...