Ike... well, after all, everything is bigger in Texas

It's Sky Watch Friday post time!!(Please visit Tom, Klaus, Sandy and Imac's SKY WATCH BLOG (click here or on the logo) to participate in Sky Watch Fridays. It is so interesting to see skies all over the world!!! I highly recommend it!) Today, I would like to share with you a photograph of the Dewvoid... yes, folks, I said it. I said the word that stirs up controversy. Does the Dewvoid exist? This photograph is capturing the dissipation of a thunderstorm that dissipated just as I was going out to shoot it.

Dissipating stage

In the dissipation stage, the thunderstorm is dominated by the downdraft. If atmospheric conditions do not support super cellular development, this stage occurs rather quickly, some 20-30 minutes into the life of the thunderstorm. The downdraft will push down out of the thunderstorm, hit the ground and spread out. The cool air carried to the ground by the downdraft cuts off the inflow of the thunderstorm, the updraft disappears and the thunderstorm will dissipate.

Bye, bye thunderstorm. No pictures of lightning for me that day.

HURRICANE IKE

Hurricane Ike has been an interesting hurricane so far. Twice he has been up to category 4 strength on his journey toward the Gulf of Mexico. He started out as a relatively small hurricane, at a point, I recall observing that he was about the size of West Virginia, and has now grown to the size of... well, he takes almost 1/2 of the Gulf of Mexico under his far-reaching convective bands. The expectation is that Hurricane Ike will become a MAJOR hurricane before landfall, gaining either category 3 or even perhaps a category 4 designation. Already, his central pressure (currently 945mb) would typically match such a category 3/4 hurricane, but the dropsonde readings aren't indicating sufficient winds for such a classification. Weird. Ike also has a tiny little eye with about a 10nm diameter, but from that center, you've got hurricane force winds extending out 115 miles and tropical storm force winds extending 255 miles. With the far outer bands reaching all the way up to my neck of the woods yesterday, we had some ferocious gusts, heavy downpours and some persistent booming thunder.In other words, Hurricane Ike is huge, and it is likely that all of the Gulf coast will be impacted in some way by Ike's existence. He is on track for a landfall near Galveston. I can't even imagine how the evacuation must be coming out of Houston with their millions. Ike! Try not to focus on the exact track and forecasted landfall. That information is a close guess but subject to considerable errors in forecasting. The models are in close alignment, but they are not, my any means, perfect.Well, that's all there is. It appears that Texas is taking the approach of Ike seriously. I hope many people get out of harm's way.

Uh oh, looks like Josephine might want to get in on the action...

5PM Update:

THE OFFICIAL FORECAST HAS BEEN NUDGED SLIGHTLY TO THE RIGHT...BUT IS STILL JUST LEFT OF THE MODEL CONSENSUS. IT IS WORTH NOTING THAT THE AVERAGE 36-HOUR OFFICIAL FORECAST ERROR IS ABOUT 80 NMI.

BECAUSE OF THE VERY LARGE EXPANSE OF HURRICANE FORCE WINDS...IKE WILL CREATE A STORM SURGE WELL IN EXCESS OF WHAT WOULD NORMALLY BE ASSOCIATED WITH A STORM OF ITS INTENSITY.

Toodles,
~Dewdrop