I am a mammatus magnet!!!

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! 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!

Well, it happened again! That's 4 times in one year... I was leaving the doctor's office yesterday, and I looked up to see a small patch of mammatus clouds! Mammatus clouds, you know if you've been around me, are my absolute FAVORITE cloud structure! OK, so the pic above is not from yesterday's encounter. I was truly blessed to experience that amazing sky full of mammatus sunrise last November, but I did look up to see my 3rd patch of mammatus in 5 days!!!

Mammatus are pouch-like cloud structures and a rare example of clouds in sinking air. Sometimes very ominous in appearance, mammatus clouds are harmless and do not mean that a tornado is about to form; a commonly held misconception. In fact, mammatus are usually seen after the worst of a thunderstorm has passed.

So, this is what I actually saw yesterday. No, you're right, it's not nearly as impressive as my wonderful November encounter, nor is it as impressive even as the Friday afternoon show... or the Friday sunset show... but it was mammatus, so I am NOT complaining. My wonderful groom called me a mammatus-magnet. Hey, I'll take that title, gladly.

In other weather news, the Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season 2009 has started with a blah... no tropical activity is detected or forecasted. With nothing for us to look at in the tropics, we (the collective weather geeks) look toward the plains, where storm chasers are getting into position for an exciting round of severe weather, which will offer some tornado potential. With the great amount of money and time invested in the Vortex2 project, I know those scientists... and the producers... are eager to finally have a chance at some action. Incidentally, the tornadic risk in the plains is equivalent to the risk here, and we didn't even rate a slight risk... Hmmm... For tomorrow, the set-up that storm chasers everywhere have been literally drooling over is running into some limiting parameters. Apparently, instability is over expected in moderation and thermodynamics are threatening to keep a lid on things; however, where the deep shear can interact with greater instability, we might just have ourselves a ball game.

THE GREATEST THREAT FOR SUPERCELLS CAPABLE OF LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND PERHAPS TORNADOES WILL EXIST FROM THE VICINITY OF THE CHEYENNE RIDGE ESEWD INTO SWRN NEB/NWRN KS. FARTHER S ALONG DRYLINE... STORM INITIATION IS MUCH MORE CONDITIONAL OWING TO THE PRESENCE OF A STRONG CAP.

Our afternoon and evening thunderstorm summer-like pattern will continue as fronts collide with sea breeze. Our storm the night before last, incidentally, was never warned as severe. I bet the folks with a tree in their apartment would disagree.

ahh... but they have issued this discussion...

AREAS AFFECTED...PARTS OF NRN FL/THE FL PANHANDLE INTO S CNTRL GA

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH UNLIKELY

THE NEED FOR A WW IS NOT CURRENTLY ANTICIPATED...BUT THE SEVERE THREAT MAY NOT BE COMPLETELY NEGLIGIBLE THROUGH THE MID/LATE AFTERNOON HOURS. WITH CAPE OF 1000-2000 J/KG ... MAY CONTRIBUTE TO LARGE ENOUGH LOW-LEVEL HODOGRAPHS FOR VIGOROUS UPDRAFTS WITH SUSTAINED ROTATION. AN ISOLATED... GENERALLY BRIEF... TORNADO IS NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION... WITH LOCALIZED DOWNBURSTS ALSO POSSIBLE.

Yes, it says damaging wind/tornado potential is limited... but not negligible... yet, no slight risk for severe weather... no severe thunderstorm watch is expected. My guess is that someone will get in big trouble today. Protect life and property guys... with warnings... I bet you'll see local storm reports in south Georgia/north Florida, even though once again, no watch has been issued.Am I the only one who sees this???

There you go: WIND DAMAGE REPORT
E TALLAHASSEE LEON FL
MINOR METAL ROOF DAMAGE TO APALACHEE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.

Have a lovely day!
~Dewdrop