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, September 11, 2008

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

40 comments:

  1. amazing how the sky is still so blue after the thunderstorm had passes. pardon my ignorance, but is it always that way?

    lovely shot.

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  2. A great color for sky watch Friday.

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  3. Right now, it appears that the center of circulation will pass just to the east of Ft. Worth. So, we will probably get a little wind and not to much rain.

    Nice post,
    Troy

    PS: maybe I can get some nice cloud photos for next friday

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  4. Thanks, Dewdrop. I didn't know about the dissipation of thunderstorms until you described it. It never occurred to me to look!

    Yes, Ike looks to be another terrible hurricane!

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  5. Thanks for the new information! I look forward to seeing your update:) Of course that photo is beautiful too!~I posted mine too, HERE! Happy SWF!~

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  6. A great capture for SWF!

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  7. Great post Dew.. you have certainly had the weather this week... I'm glad it calmed down... it had been interesting to see it all unfolding on the news.

    Tom

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  8. i love your sky-watch posts - amazing storm-tracking!

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  9. I really like that shot..Great Photo..

    Happy SWF

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  10. Terrific Sky! I love the how the dissipating nature of the storm let the light glow at the top. My, Ike!

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  11. Ah...nothing like a dissipating storm... ;)

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  12. May all your storms dissipate as beautifully!

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  13. it is pretty amazing.. keep sharing some awesome pictures that way we not only me are enjoying to watch it..though it is pretty scary to see hurricane ike...

    here's mine

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  14. great photos the clouds and rich blue sky. Looks like Ike is going to cause a lot of problems.

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  15. Of course Dewvoid is a word! Just like dewlicious! Goof!
    I am just glad that Ike is not "attacking" Florida, the much I feel for the Texans.
    Great sky on your end! Dew more of those!
    Cheers, Klaus

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  16. Dew: That is a wonderful capture of the clouds as they were giving in.

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  17. Not only a gorgeous picture but also a lot of information concerning Ike. Always great to visit you.

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  18. Fantastic picture! The light in the clouds, wonderful.

    And thanks for the information.

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  19. The buildings at my photo are changing cubicles (changing rooms?), I am not sure of the right word. You can rent them.

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  20. LOL!!! Maybe is beach cabana the right vocable.

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  21. Your Sky Watch-post is great as always!

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  22. Very nice post... great skies... you are always on top of the news! Good job.
    ~Michele~
    Mountain Retreat

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  23. Wow! I love how some white cloud pop out of the dark clouds..

    Check out my sky HERE

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  24. Nice photo of the clouds framing the images of the tree line. Interesting that storms can turn up beautiful scenes for us to take photos of, nature sure is a mixed blessing some days.

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  25. My online weather forcaster! :) very nice SWF entry! Happy weekend!

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  26. good pics have nice weekend

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  27. Stunning vision!

    Marvelous capture.

    Santilli

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  28. HA!!!! So you admitt, the Dewvoid lives!!! (evil laugh)

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  29. THANKS FOR SHARING ALL THIS INFO

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  30. Great photos and excellent information! I sure hope Ike doesn't throw any of his tropical winds and rain over us the way that Gustav did. Harvest is upon us and we badly need sunshine to get it out of the fields.

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  31. Interesting. I finally got my TS Fay pictures posted.

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  32. I just wish some of these storms would bring us more rain in our area.

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  33. Thanks for the forecast. The photo is beautiful!

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  34. Spectacular as always the whole post.
    A very timely post aswell with the situation over there

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  35. Another fantastic cloud image. Thank you for sharing, and for your updates on Hurricane Ike. I have family in Houston who have evacuated to Louisiana of all places, but the husband, my cousin, cannot leave. He works in the natural gas transmission business and has to stay to monitor systems during the storm. Happy Skywatching. I love your contributions!

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  36. Great photo, glad to see it dissipating! Wish Ike would, too. I have too many friends and family in that region.

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  37. Great sky watch photo Dew! Awesome coverage of Ike as well!
    I have my photos up as well!
    TTYS/Jess

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  38. Thanks to everyone who dropped by and commented. I appreciate all the compliments on the pic and the information share. I love tracking tropical cyclones in the Atlantic basin... they are so interesting to me.

    Photo cache, no, skies are not always that blue after a thunderstorm. In fact, this sky was strikingly blue... very rare in my experience.

    Troy, with the size of Ike, be ready for whatever.

    reluctant farmer, well, if they are going to dissipate, let's hope it's at least beautiful.

    Klaus, just watch out for Josephine and possibly Kyle.

    Pearl Maple, as a storm chaser, I couldn't agree more.

    Rhoen, I like to guess anyhow...

    Rick, lol

    Brenda, Hope you get to get to do the harvest you need to do.

    Enigma, I hope your cousin will be ok. They evacuated to Louisiana?!

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  39. Your picture of the passing stormclouds and the blue sky is really great, and as always your blog amazes me, so informative. Up here were I live storms like those you describe are something we see on the news from your part of the world, but never see here. Thanx for sharing.

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  40. Fugazi, you don't want this type of storm.

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Dew comment, please...