TD "1" FINALLY!

Better late than never! Hopefully no one sailed their blow-boat into this thing, since it was a TD yesterday, and probably is a TS today! - HLG

"30 percent chance"?

Of "becoming" tropical?? That is all the NHCCTWPPCCC says? I will eat crow if this isn't AT LEAST a TD! - hlg

Giant Auroral Waves

Giant Atmospheric Crashes Detected via Auroras

for National Geographic News

May 26, 2009
Using auroras like flashlights, scientists have exposed giant atmospheric waves crashing just above Earth that can endanger satellites (aurora pictures).

When strong winds crash into mountains or large atmospheric disturbances such as thunderstorms and hurricanes, the "explosion" sends invisible "shock waves" of air rippling outward in all directions at hundreds of miles an hour.


The atmospheric waves can travel hundreds of miles upward into the highest reaches of the atmosphere. There, they crash against the ionosphere like surf breaking on a beach.

But instead of stopping at the "beach," the atmospheric waves spur smaller, weaker waves inside the ionosphere that generate heat. This heat in turn creates electrical disturbances that can affect the motions and functions of satellites.

Aurora Illumination

The giant air ripples have been detected before, but never so precisely or so far into the atmosphere.

The breakthrough comes courtesy of a new radar system called the Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar, recently installed near the North Pole in Alaska and Canada. There the system has a front-row seat for the aurora borealis, or northern lights.

Auroras flicker into being when charged particles from the sun strike Earth's magnetic field and are funneled to the Poles, where the particles interact with the atmosphere to colorful effect.

(Related: "Giant 'Space Tornadoes' Spark Auroras on Earth.")

By tracing an aurora's charged particles, the new radar system can paint a better picture of the invisible atmospheric waves—much the way you can "see" a breeze by watching floating, illuminated specks of dust.

"The radar has the ability to take a three-dimensional snapshot of the waves," said study author Michael Nicolls, an atmospheric scientist at SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute in California.

"From that, we can figure out which direction the waves are propagating and we can gain knowledge of where and how they are depositing their energies."

Those insights, he said, could lead to better understanding of space weather and its effects on Earth systems such as power grids as well as GPS and other forms of satellite communications.

Findings presented May 25 at an American Geophysical Union meeting in Toronto, Canada

Feels like Seattle in DC!

Last 24 hours of obs in the final week before June! Darned Global Warming! - HLG

11 AM (15) May 27 60 (16) 59 (15) 30.04 (1017) Calm mist
10 AM (14) May 27 59 (15) 57 (14) 30.06 (1017) Calm mist
9 AM (13) May 27 57 (14) 57 (14) 30.06 (1017) Calm mist
8 AM (12) May 27 57 (14) 55 (13) 30.06 (1017) Calm mist
7 AM (11) May 27 57 (14) 55 (13) 30.06 (1017) Calm mist
6 AM (10) May 27 57 (14) 55 (13) 30.05 (1017) Calm mist
5 AM (9) May 27 55 (13) 55 (13) 30.06 (1017) Calm mist
4 AM (8) May 27 55 (13) 53 (12) 30.06 (1017) Calm mist
3 AM (7) May 27 55 (13) 53 (12) 30.08 (1018) Calm mist
2 AM (6) May 27 55 (13) 53 (12) 30.1 (1019) Calm mist
1 AM (5) May 27 55 (13) 53 (12) 30.12 (1019) Calm mist
Midnight (4) May 27 55 (13) 53 (12) 30.13 (1020) Calm mist
11 PM (3) May 26 55 (13) 53 (12) 30.14 (1020) Calm mist
10 PM (2) May 26 55 (13) 53 (12) 30.15 (1020) Calm mist
9 PM (1) May 26 55 (13) 53 (12) 30.14 (1020) Calm mist
8 PM (0) May 26 55 (13) 53 (12) 30.14 (1020) Calm mist
7 PM (23) May 26 55 (13) 53 (12) 30.15 (1020) Calm mist
6 PM (22) May 26 57 (14) 55 (13) 30.15 (1020) Calm mist
5 PM (21) May 26 57 (14) 55 (13) 30.16 (1021) Calm drizzle
4 PM (20) May 26 57 (14) 55 (13) 30.17 (1021) Calm mist
3 PM (19) May 26 57 (14) 53 (12) 30.17 (1021) Calm mist
2 PM (18) May 26 57 (14) 53 (12) 30.19 (1022) Calm light rain
1 PM (17) May 26 57 (14) 53 (12) 30.2 (1022) Calm

TD offf Hatteras?

Sure looks like one in the visible. No upper level feature in the WV. What is the consensus? - HLG

TC "AILA" (02B) & African Dust

There was a fairly strong TC in the Bay of Bengal making landfall today. Also, I saw one of the best images of West African dust, interacting with the Canary Island cloud vorices. Anyone noticed the circulation of the SE US? Any chance this will develope? I see you can still detect the tropical low that came into MS/AL over the weekend in the visible imaagery. - HLG

Beautiful Plankton Bloom Eddies in Kuroshio

The color fidelity of MODIS conitues to amaze me. Look at the detail of the plankton blooms in the Kuroshio current and the eddies to the north of it. - HLG

ANA - OH ANA

Remember the German band "Trio?" They did a song called "Ana" (actually Anna).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_6Tu257ciI

Here are the lyrics:

Anna
Anna - oh Anna
Bertha
Bertha - oh Bertha
Carla
Carla - oh Carla
Dieter
Dieter - oh Dieter
Peter
Peter - oh Peter
Laß mich rein (let me in)
laß mich rauß. (let me out)
Laß mich rein
laß mich rauß.
Laß mich rein
laß mich rauß.

Weather Babe Returns

Drum roll please!! Yes, back by popular demand, its weather babe! :-)

Well it appears that just on the heels of a cool front we are going to be in for our first tropical system. And boy do we need some moisture... Rain that is! Check it out.

So are we in for a busy, exciting season? I have not made my prediction yet. I am a geologist. I predict the earth will shake....somewhere, but hopefully not while I am in Monterey!

:-)

MODEL COMPARISONS

NOGAPS, Canadian and GFS forecasts for approximately 3-4 days from now. All show the disturbance in the satellite image that HLG provided in the last post. We have the good possibility of seeing a strong minor sub-cat 1 in the US waters this week.

BB

TD "BB"?

Is this the TD forming the Dr BB warned of?

Sure looks good in vis, and WV channels. There is some shear from the NW right now.

Stay tuned weather geeks! - HLG

IT BEGINS....

I return from Manado, and this is what I get??? Where are the Weather Studs??? Where is the Babe???

BB

Two Shuttles on the Pad at the Same Time!

Does anyone remember last time this happened? Also, it was envisioned in the early shuttle program it would happen monthly, with dozens of flights per year! Now, sadly it is only a reminder of how flawed the shuttle design was that we need a back-up to try and go get the astronauts if an ice-cube hits the bird on the way up! - HLG

Space and Weather

The STS-125 (Final Hubble Repair Mission) is about to launch. Due to the inclination of this mission, the normal trans-Atlantic abort site is not in Morocco, but in Moron, Spain. Every wonder where that is? The large dry lake bed in this Google Earth image is the actual landing place. It has never been tested, and hopefully never will be. By the way, the TAA weather is A - OK! - HLG

Springfield Mo Composite Radar May, 8, 2009

Amazing radar image this morning from Springfield, Mo. Look at the green area in this composite right at the core of this MCC circulation. The spiral out to such a large distance is incredible! - HLG

Dr BB in Manado?

That's in Indonesia in case you forgot, but how you get there is a compelte mystery!

Let's See Your Climate Model Predict This!

Meteor May Have Doomed Megafauna



Megafauna, such as these mammoths, may have fallen victim to a meteor impact 13,000 years ago.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



By Gail Gallessich


New scientific findings suggest that a large, extraterrestrial rock may have exploded over North America 13,000 years ago, possibly explaining riddles that scientists have wrestled with for decades.
Two scientists from UC Santa Barbara presented the discovery along with two other researchers last week at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, held in Acapulco, Mexico. Over 20 scientists contributed to the discovery.
James Kennett, paleoceanographer and professor emeritus in the Department of Earth Science, told the international journal Nature that the discovery potentially explains three of the most debated controversies of recent decades: the abrupt cooling of the atmosphere, the sudden extinction of large mammals, and the ending of Clovis culture.
“This is what happens when you do interdisciplinary science,” said Luann Becker, research scientist with the Institute of Crustal Studies and a participant.
The time period in question is called the “Younger Dryas,” a time of abrupt cooling that lasted for about 1,000 years and occurred during an inter-glacial warm period.
According to the scientists, the extraterrestrial rock must have been about five kilometers across, and either exploded in the atmosphere or directly hit the Laurentide ice sheet, then located in the northeastern section of North America. Wildfires across the continent would have resulted from the fiery impact, killing off the food supply of many of the larger mammals like the woolly mammoths, causing them to go extinct.
The impact of the space rock melted a large portion of the ice sheet, causing enormous amounts of cool, fresh water to flow into the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. This would have disrupted the circulation of warm and cold water, leading to the glaciation of the Younger Dryas period.
Since the Clovis people of North America hunted mammoths as a major source of their food they, too, were affected by the impact and their culture died out, explained Becker.
The scientific team visited over a dozen archaeological sites in North America where they found high concentrations of iridium, an element that is rare on Earth, and is almost exclusively associated with meteors. They found microspherules of glass-like carbon, which form at high temperatures and are thought to be a result of an impact blast.
Impact evidence was discovered on Santa Rosa Island among the Santa Barbara Channel Islands, Kennett told Nature - HLG Posted Article Courtesy of UCSB

Did A "Microburst" Do it in Dallas?

Amazing photo of apparent microburst just before the collapse of the Dallas Cowboy Training Facility this weekend, caught by a spotter and posted on CNN I-Report. -HLG

ANOTHER GREAT PRODUCT FROM CIMSS

Makes one want to go back to analyzing ocean satellite imagery again...

Clouds in South Atlantic

Note the dipole at the core of the strong low in the far South Atlantic. -HLG