COLD!

The cold spell continues, and I am running out of cold weather clothes!!! Though there is talk about a slight reprieve for the day on Thursday (not above average temps still, expect low 50's), the warning of a worse cold blast over the weekend hangs a dark cloud over the minimal break. Tallahassee's Weather Service office has taken the snow references out of our forecast and left it with rain and barely above freezing temps.

IT IS NOT ENTIRELY OUT OF THE QUESTION FOR A LITTLE BIT OF SLEET TO OCCUR ALONG THE BACK EDGE OF THE PRECIP BAND EARLY FRIDAY MORNING...BUT THE LIKELIHOOD AND IMPACT OF THIS SEEM TOO SLIGHT TO FORECAST AT THIS TIME.

If that holds, school will most likely not be cancelled, unless they consider what's on the other side of that rain... Now, if you check out Jacksonville's Weather Service, they seem to be of a varying opinion. Their graphic forecast paints a picture of failing white stuff on Thursday night.

...should enough cold air remain in place, a wintry mix may occur across portions of Southeast Georgia with sleet or freezing rain possible before sunrise followed by a few snow flurries. Freezing temperatures Friday morning and wet ground may cause ice on roadways- especially on bridges and overpasses- which would create hazardous driving conditions. Interests should continue to monitor this evolving weather event.

Aside from the ridiculous cold weather, which I am not a big fan of... The National Weather Service nationally, effective yesterday, has raised (or in some places kept the same) the parameter for severe hail to one inch size or quarter-sized hail. Locally, it was only 3/4" or penny sized until yesterday's change. Notice that hail is not compared to marbles, but coins which are much less variable.

Have a warm day, or try to.
~Dewdrop

Crazy Hail outbreak in north Georgia and Atlanta metro area

This evening, as I was driving home, I got a text message from my dear friend, Nicole in Cartersville who was working in Acworth, reporting "HAIL!! And lots of it!". When I asked for pics, she said that security wasn't letting them out, but reported that the hail was pea to quarter size, and they were under a severe thunderstorm warning. When I arrived home to check radar, this is what I saw:Reports of hail from 3/4" to 1 3/4" were reported all around there; seriously, check it out.The hail reports are the little green dots, you see that cluster around the Atlanta area??!It's been a hail of a year for Georgia weather. Some of the largest hail occurred in Woodstock, Georgia, still recovering from tornado damage. Nicole told me that 20 minutes after the threat was past, the tornado sirens went off... delay. Incidentally, the photo is 15 minutes after the hail started. Wild.

I just now got a text from my dear friend, Jen, saying I would love the lightning in Winder... very intense.

Thank you so much ladies!

Crazy... totally random...~Dew

Hail of a storm

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! Our hosts: Klaus | Sandy | Ivar | Wren | Louise | Fishing Guy

SKY WATCH FRIDAY (click the word to link and participate!)
Thanks to Dot and Tom, who were instrumental in the success of this blogging event. You should definitely come fly with us!On Monday, our sky was brimming with instability, and it excited me to watch the cumulus towers boil up high into the troposphere, growing with urgency, turmoiled tops rolling with activity, growing in power and strength. I knew what that meant... Instability, moisture and lift (the key thunderstorm ingredients) had collided offering us an opportunity for some exciting weather. In our case, it meant a rare hail storm in Valdosta. Hail captured by my wonderful groom:Hail captured by Emily F. in her yard:When you see extraordinarily large towers, the potential exists for hail, which forms in large cumulonimbus clouds.

Hail can be found in the middle and upper portions of almost all thunderstorms. However, most either melts before hitting the ground, or being very soft, disintegrates in the violent thunderstorm interior.
~source

When clouds climb to extraordinary heights of 40,000 or 50,000 or even 60,000 feet, the top part of the cloud is supercooled with temperatures well below freezing. Hail then forms in a couple of ways.

1. The hail nucleus, buoyed by the updraft is carried aloft by the updraft and begins to grow in size as it collides with supercooler raindrops and other small pieces of hail.
2. Sometimes the hailstone is blown out of the main updraft and begins to falls to the earth.
3. If the updraft is strong enough it will move the hailstone back into the cloud where it once again collides with water and hail and grows. This process may be repeated several times.
4. In all cases, when the hailstone can no longer be supported by the updraft it falls to the earth. The stronger the updraft, the larger the hailstones that can be produced by the thunderstorm.
~source

Fast Facts about hail

On June 22, 2003, a hailstone recovered in Aurora, NE, had a diameter of 7" (17.8 cm) and a circumference of 18 3/4" (47.6 cm). This hailstone was larger than the previous record large hailstone that fell in Coffeyville, KS, in 1970 (5.7" (14.5 cm) diameter and 17.5" (44.5 cm) circumference). However, weight, is the most important measurement. An accurate weight could not be determined for the Aurora hailstone; so the Coffeyville hailstone of 1970 remains the heaviest hailstone weighed and verified in the United States at 1.67 pounds (0.76 kg).

Hail causes $1 billion in damages to crops and property each year.

Hailstones can fall at speeds up to 120 mph (53 m/s).

Costliest United States hailstorm: Fort worth, Texas, May 5 1995. Total damage was $2 billion.

List of costliest and deadliest hail storms.

In my case, this was my first time seeing hail, and I drove through two hail swaths, each with about 1/2 to 3/4" hailstones. It was exciting and non-destructive. We also had ferocious downpours of rain on Tuesday, but there were no hail reports.

I will post about our last day of San Diego tomorrow.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop

Hail in Valdosta... finally!!! (Dewvoid, voided again?!)

What an exciting day today was!!!! I had known that there was a potential for rain and weather today... but most of it had past... or so we thought. As I was preparing my afternoon chai, I noticed cumulus towers rising around town, literally stood and watched them boil over, as I waited for my water to boil. When I left the office, things had really fired up, towers climbing up tens of thousands of feet into the air. My first thought... INSTABILITY!!!I sent a comment and picture saying as much to some of the Brigade members and my wonderful groom (who against better judgment had left the doors off his jeep when he went to work this evening... oops.) So, I sent him a message encouraging him to put the top up on his jeep, at least.

As I was headed home to meet my friend at the house, I encountered the outer rain swath of one of those magnificent towers. Then, my wonderful groom, who was about a quarter of a mile further west down the road from where I was sent me a text message (about a mile from the interstate)... HAIL!!!he measured it to be about 3/4". Just after receiving the text from him, my rain turned to HAIL!!! Hail, yeah!!! :D I was thrilled beyond words. I took the long way around to the house, enjoying the heavy downpours and occasional tink, tink of hail pounding on the windshield. I also called the weather service to report the hail. :D I briefly met with my friend, watching a briefly rotating lowering in the cloud base over my house (which the Weather Service office did not see anything to support; however, the same cell showed 3 directional shear just northeast of here on radar), which she also witnessed and it made her very nervous. She then decided to head home when the weather radio announced another approaching here. She wanted to get home and above all of it. I checked it out on radio. It had merged into a monstrous line of yuck, but I was hungry for more hail, so I decided to go for a little ride. I headed out to Lakeland, and I actually came across another hail core with some small hail bouncing on my windshield. Then, I was done, and I headed back home. Upon arrival, I found an email from a former co-worker and fellow weather geek who lives a couple of hundred yards from the interstate off the same road I had been on originally, and she shared pics with me. She told me she doesn't mind me sharing her pics, so here... Thank you so much, Emily F. for sharing!!! She sized it at dime-sized, possibly nickel-sized at the largest.

Exciting!
~Dew

Hail in Selma, AL

Janet just shared this shot of the hail in Selma, which was from that cell that Alabama Mike was out in last Wednesday, February 18, 2009. Wow. Thanks, Janet!She says, "This is the hail about 10 minutes after the rain stopped. It hadn't melted much at all because there was so much of it, the ground was cold.

I would guess the hail was between quarter and silver dollar size here, although some reports in the area were of golf ball and tennis ball size hail." Thanks again, Janet!
~Dew