Stratus vs. Fog

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! I am SUPER busy with stimulus yuck, so I might not get a chance to say hi. Please don't take offense. Thanks for the visit in advance. Our hosts: Klaus Sandy Ivar Wren Louise Fishing Guy

Thanks, also,to Dot and Tom, who were instrumental in the success of this blogging event. You should definitely come fly with us!

Today, I would like to share with you my morning sky... this is what greeted me as I left for work this morning. Mr. Sun worked feverishly to break through a thick stratus haze that settled overnight in my neck of the woods. Stratus is similar to fog in that it is a low cloud cover. The distinction is that fog comes in contact with the ground where stratus remains a hundreds of feet above the ground. The sun works hard to cause it to lift.

With El Nino breathing down our necks, doesn't look like we can expect much of anything out of hurricane season this year. Shear is powerful, and things just aren't condusive for development. I might have to wait another 6 years to chase Hurricane Bill... sigh.

We had some wild weather here yesterday. We actually had a cell that went severe with it's hail potential and amazing wind. The bulk of it went well north of me, but Tally did severe warn it. Apparently, it knocked some trees and power lines down in Ray City, GA.

RAY CITY BERRIEN GA
MULTIPLE TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN 5-10 MILES SE OF NASHVILLE (TAE)

I enjoyed watching the wind. The trees were all blown hard, and driving home, I noticed some large limbs had been knocked into the road. Outside of that and potentially rained out fishing plans tomorrow, we've got nothing.

Have a lovely day!!!
~Dewdrop

Anywhere but here...

I would just like for you to notice a couple of things... below is a graphical presentation of yesterday's severe weather reports.One important point is that the one reported tornado was very near Tennessee Mike's neck of the woods. He is our team representation in central Tennessee. Fortunately, it sounds like it was just structural, and no people were harmed. I certainly hope that is the case. The second point I would like to make... is that in 4 out of 5 states surrounding Georgia... there was severe weather, but not one severe weather report came from Georgia, nor did one come from Florida, which is the state I am closest too... Dewvoid? I think so. You can feel free to click on the linked graphic above for more details about the reports, but I just wanted to make those points.

Today, there is no sign of tropical activity in the Atlantic, and the slight risk for severe weather is far, far away...Maybe... one day... we'll have something interesting.

Have a wonderfully fantastic day!
~Dewdrop

What the hail are you talking about?

There I was, minding my own business, when out of the blue I got a call from Meso Mike, who was hard at work out at the AFB. He was calling to report pea-sized hail (as if I am the weather service... I think he does it just to make me jealous--he is afterall, the Meso-magnet). Just as he called, our power flickered after a lightning strike, and we lost our connection to the server, so I couldn't see what was going on radar-wise. I had been so engrossed in my work that I hadn't realized that a cell had gone severe warned in my county!! Nor did I realize that the storm packed with it sufficient punch to warrant a severe wind report...

REED BINGHAM STATE PARK
COLQUITT GA
WIND GUSTS BLEW SOME BOATS OVER AND KNOCKED SOME SMALL TREES DOWN.

Fortunately, the server connection was quickly restored, and I was able to get a glimpse of what had happened.That super-sized cell dumped 1.35" of rain on my thirsty yard. Amazing... I almost didn't believe my eyes when I checked my gauge this morning... yesterday was quite a weather day actually with tornadoes reported in WISCONSIN (yes, sis, WISCONSIN!!!) and Colorado. There was also a water spout in the Tampa Bay area that spawned a tornado warning. Crazy!!! Today doesn't look much different. There is an area outlined with a slight risk for severe weather... but the Arklatex area just sprouted a tornado watch.I would expect the slight risk box to shift eastward some as the day progresses, but we shall see.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop

A wonderful mini-vacation adventure!!!

We had a wonderful family get-away weekend this weekend. We left Thursday (after work) for Orlando, arriving in the wee hours Friday morning. After a brief rest (the kids slept on the way), we were up relatively early Friday morning for nourishment and to hit the parks. We had a 1-day hopper pass for Universal and Islands of Adventure. What a treat! We went to Universal Studios first, hitting Twister right off the bat, and the kids actually loved it! Of course, me being Dew, I took plenty of pics of that ride... (I can never get enough of that ride... for obvious reasons.) So, we hit the Mummy ride, which the girls sat out of, but my wonderful groom's son was a trooper, and he seemed to enjoy it. I love that ride. We rode the Jaws ride...... and then we hit "Disaster"... where my wonderful groom's son was cast as the super awesome boy actor who does his own stunts. After shooting the scenes where he leapt off (tall? cough cough) buildings in a single bound... he was shown in the finished product knocking over "The Rock". lol. After a minor earthquake while riding the subway, we were on our way. We watched a wild Fear Factor Live episode where a woman was called from the audience to have... scorpions put on her head... uh... no thanks.No, to all choices, thanks.We rode a few more things there and headed over to Islands of Adventure. The favorites there were the rock wall (not the same Rock that my wonderful groom's son knocked over), Jurassic Park and the full sized Jurassic playground, complete with cave, fog and dinosaur sounds. The kids were particularly fascinated with the end of the Jurassic Park ride...... I can't understand why. lol....

I was fascinated by the intriguing sky...The above clouds actually produced a spectacular nighttime light show, which did not ever interfere with ride operation, though in my opinion, it should have... a little too close for comfort.... but then, we got this awesome double rainbow after seeing the Blue Man group on Saturday... no pics, but I highly recommend the show! We all laughed non-stop! After my wonderful groom was able to relieve himself from carrying the weight of the world on his shoulder... (and a water bottle)... another particular point of interest for us was the Hard Rock Cafe's version of Thriller... it was a riot!!!It was a superly awesome, wonderfully fantastic superb trip. We had a great time!

Oh wait, I almost forgot to mention the new island at Island of Adventure... Cool, huh?

Have a beautiful day!
~Dewdrop

The sky is melting

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! I am SUPER busy with stimulus yuck, so I might not get a chance to say hi. Please don't take offense. Thanks for the visit in advance. Our hosts: Klaus Sandy Ivar Wren Louise Fishing Guy

Thanks, also,to Dot and Tom, who were instrumental in the success of this blogging event. You should definitely come fly with us!

So... weather here is still boring at best... unfortunately, we are back in our dry spell, with days on end of no rain at all. I won't complain though, in light of the serious drought conditions in Texas. Fortunately, I am being entertained with some stunning sunsets day after day. Yesterday was a really awesome one, offering the sun setting into a layer of smoky haze, no doubt trapped in a seriously capped environment. The haze allowed the sun to show as a ball of fire in the sky, discernible as a brilliant ball hovering above the horizon, bouncing in the smoky haze.I love the way the sun appears to be melting the sky around it... I know that's just some sort of lens flare (perhaps y'all can help me with the proper name for it), but I sure do love the effect on the photo.

Of course, given my location, I was limited in my westward view. Mini-dew and I had to seek out a spot to shoot this beautiful sight, since my typical westward view has been inundated with power lines... grrrr... (I do like the bird on the wire effect here though...)
Well, in weather news, 4 workers in Michigan were injured when they hid under a tree in a lightning storm... they are hospitalized. Don't hide under a tree folks. A low pressure system, now off the coast of the Carolinas has little chance of development, and maintains its disorganized messiness. It will likely cause rip currents and rain. Still no Ana.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop

Late season action out in the plains

Life has been rather chaotic for me... so I will just give you a general weather update... yesterday, was a very late-season super active severe day. With 209 severe weather reports and 6 of those being tornadoes, it was really a wild day. You can click on the map above for details about the reports. Today, the action is lined up, primed and ready to boom... well, right about now.
Tropically, things have been getting, at least slightly, more interesting, as they have finally outlined some areas to watch in the Atlantic basin, but nothing is expected out of either... thanks to "El Nino". Between shear and high pressure, we don't stand a chance of anything tropical.

Sigh...
You'll notice, absolutely nothing here...
~Dewdrop

A great weekend

Well, what an exciting weekend I had. I should start with Friday... Before I left work Friday, we had some nice storms, where dry slots were left all over the sky as scattered storms moved erratically throughout the area... I love the structure and beauty in the dry slots... ... leaving work on Friday, there was an amazing storm that Meso Mike actually caught me gawking at and shooting... how funny. It was an amazingly almost striated-looking cloud, stacked up high... with an amazingly low base. I hadn't seen anything like it, and I actually pulled over (in the middle of the road) to shoot it... yes, that is where Mike found me... but look at this thing... Then, my wonderful groom and I, like Ken and his bride... saw "The Proposal", which was a sweet little predictable chick flick. Granted, if it wasn't predictable, it wouldn't be much of a chick flick. We said several moments of laugh out loud-ness, which is exactly what you want after working a rough week. Saturday is when things got exciting. I told you before that I have trained to be a member of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). As a storm chaser, I felt like I had some responsibility as a potential first person on the scene to have some knowledge and training regarding what to do, in case... Well, I am a certified CERT member, and I have CPR and yet another SKYWARN training under my belt. This weekend, though, was the exciting training... except, I was only on the sidelines... didn't get to be a part of the exercise. I was contacted by the emergency manager asking if we wanted to participate in a mock disaster at the airport. OF COURSE!!! I reminded him that my being there meant the weather wouldn't be cooperative... he chuckled, but after SKYWARN training... a tornado was spotted (not really ) around the corner from my house, and an EF3 touched down two counties over.CPR So, I showed up Saturday as a volunteer in the Hostage Take-over exercise... which was a full scale, quite realistic exercise involving all levels of emergency management, including the Department of Homeland Security. They had make-up artists and everything. It was very cool. Unfortunately, I was the road guard for the event, charged with not allowing anyone not involved with the exercise... into the airport. They gave me a fancy vest for the occasion. Unfortunately, despite that fact that for 2 months, we have had nothing but evening thunderstorms, very isolated... on Saturday, we had solid rain, heavy downpours, thunder and lightning, starting at about 11:45. I was drenched head to toe, like I had never been before, sending away car rental customers left and right... Sorry ma'am, the airport is close... No sir, I would not like to be run over today... you're welcome to come back after the exercise, sir... you've got to be kidding me, you're deaf, seriously?! So, for a couple of hours, it continued this way until they terminated the exercise... jeepers creepers. I did attend the debriefing, where they described what I had missed...Ahh, but one thing about rainy days that mostly clear up... the amazing sunsets they leave in their wake.How great is our God?! My wonderful groom and I actually walked around the neighborhood partly backwards during our walk, to not miss the show.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop

Amazing shelf clouds...

A SHELF CLOUD is a type of arcus cloud.

An arcus cloud is a low, horizontal cloud formation associated with the leading edge of thunderstorm outflow, or occasionally with a cold front even in the absence of thunderstorms. Roll clouds and SHELF CLOUDS are the two types of arcus clouds, slight variations in their generation and look being the difference.

[A] shelf cloud is attached to the base of the parent cloud (usually a thunderstorm). Rising cloud motion often can be seen in the leading (outer) part of the shelf cloud, while the underside often appears turbulent and wind-torn.

Occasionally people seeing a shelf cloud may believe they have seen a wall cloud. This is a common mistake, since an approaching shelf cloud appears to form a wall made of cloud. Generally speaking, a shelf cloud appears on the leading edge of a storm, and a wall cloud will usually be at the rear of the storm.
~source

Yesterday, people shared shelf clouds they've encountered over the summer in the eastern part of the country... My personal best was in South Dakota... I'll share that in a minute...

With permission, here is a shelf cloud that Annie B. encountered during her vacation at Daytona Beach.... when Annie's friend Matt saw that, he shared with her his shot on his south Georgia farm of an awesome shelf in Lenox, GA. He also gave me permission to share...Looks like a scene straight out of the plains, doesn't it? Great shots, guys and thanks for sharing.

Here is my SD shelf cloud... what an amazing experience this was.They look ominous for a reason... they are generally a good indication of some powerful weather coming. Mine incorporated an amazingly powerful sand storm and winds that knocked down a tractor trailer. The other side held tornadic wall clouds... with multiple funnels. If you see something like this approaching, find a safe spot.

Sign of danger
A sharp, strong gust front will cause the lowest part of the leading edge of an arcus to be ragged and lined with rising fractus clouds. In a severe case there will be vortices along the edge with twisting masses of scud that may reach to the ground or be accompanied by rising dust. A very low shelf cloud accompanied by these signs is the best indicator that a potentially violent wind squall is approaching. An extreme example of this phenomenon looks almost like a tornado and is known as a gustnado.

Have a great day and wonderful weekend!
~Dewdrop

Real weather occurs anywhere but here...

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! I am busy busy with stimulus yuck, so I might not get a chance to say hi. Please don't take offense. Our hosts: Klaus Sandy Ivar Wren Louise Fishing Guy

Thanks, also,to Dot and Tom, who were instrumental in the success of this blogging event. You should definitely come fly with us!I took this shot 2 years ago, when I caught a glimpse of this amazing tower with the stunning crepuscular rays shooting out from behind it and the dark shafts of rain falling below. This is a scene much like what we have been seeing for the last many days with evening isolated thunderstorms dropping rain sporadically (not at my house). Last night, we had quite a storm, with thunder booming steady. The day before, I hear the hospital was struck by lightning, which caused some electrical disturbances, and I know power was knocked out momentarily in places, causing some intersection confusion. It's been nothing too terribly exciting. All the exciting stuff is happening elsewhere. A large part of the central US, into Alabama is expected to have a chance at some severe weather, as is the northeast... It appears that right now, southern Nebraska and northern Mississippi are getting powerful lines now with significant wind and rain. Northern Alabama today should be on the lookout for some nasty stuff. If you are in the green outlined sections, keep an ear out for your weather radio. The rain with these systems is outrageous. Flash flood warnings are plastered all over northern Mississippi and southeast Arkansas. Clicking on the warning map here to the right above will show you where the current warnings are.

Hope you have a great day!
~Dewdrop

Potter-pated...

Greetings everyone... and groggy-eyed Harry Potter fans. My wonderful groom and I were two of millions who braved the night to be among the first to experience the dazzling wizardry world of Harry Potter. In my little nothing town, they sold out of seats in the 6 stadium theaters, which were showing the Half Blood Prince, 6th movie of the 8 movie series, based on JK Rowling's top selling books. I would estimate 2000 people in Valdosta alone attended the midnight showing of the movie. I have read all 7 of the books, but my wonderful groom has most recently dedicated himself to reading them all (again) just before the release of the flick. He was disappointed because of the disparities between the movie and the book, which is always the case, unfortunately. I thought it was a great way to set up for the next book's associated movies. I was disappointed that much of the character development over the past many movies, seemed to have occurred in vain, as there were just a few keys players in this one, and they seemed to dwell on some of the lesser significant story-lines otherwise.

In weather news, seeing how this is a weather blog... outside of excruciating heat in the south central US, which is causing drought and wildfire... and a ridiculous number of failed launch attempts by the Space Shuttle Endeavor... nothing much exciting is happening. Even the hurricane season has been a bore. We are a month and a half into hurricane season, and we have yet to see a named storm in the Atlantic basin. Water temps are great, but the shear environment is far from conducive. Finally though, it looks like the models are trying to make something of the little bit of disturbed area off of Africa. We'll see if the GFS holds true in coming days.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop

Beautiful skies...

I feel like a broken record, but we haven't had much here, except those pesky afternoon/evening summer-time thunderstorms. They are scattered, at best, meaning, at my yoga class yesterday, we had rain, at home... zilch. Oh well, the good news for me is that as the thunderstorm dissipated, as I arrived home, I got to witness a beautiful rainbow in front of the storm. So, just imagine... a magnificently brilliant rumbly cumulus puff wafting into a more stable sky and drifting off to nothing at the top... yet at the base, where some dark nimbus still convected... a beautiful rainbow, a visual assurance of God's faithful promise of hope. No folks, nothing worthy of a chase in my neck of the woods (which is good because I couldn't chase anyhow...), but a sign of hope given to me, delivered as a precious gift. Really, the whole sky show yesterday at my house was a demonstration of happiness and hope. Check out these mares tail cirrus clouds. Awesome, huh?

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop