Thursday, October 14, 2010

Method Behind the Madness

A close look at the satellite image of the Earth could leave one lost at times, but a closer look at the way things are done, organized, and played out, show the method behind the madness.


Today was a good day for teaching similarities and differences between cyclones. Both areas of low pressure have rising warm humid air, creating some much-needed precip. while rotating around in a counter-clockwise manner and opening the door for a chance of severe storms. 
In the north, above our humble abode, we have the mid-latitude cyclone with its two strong arms pulling the continental polar air down from the north and the maritime tropical air up from the south. These two air masses mix and match like oil and water and storms arise from their boundaries with the most severe storms stemming usually from the cold front,... Hence our stormy weather today.
But then there is the tropical cyclone, powered by latent heat and rising, focused air that usually begins it's life over the Cape Verde islands and then pulled and powered by the Trade Winds and North Equatorial Current that so conveniently head straight towards the United States.
Hurricanes are pretty damn cool. They are like the office secretary’s,...the organizational piece if you will, of severe weather.  The less wind to spread water vapor around, the better the formation. Colliding Trades and rising humidity have power growing focused and exponentially with every drop of latent heat released with condensation. Oppositional winds and the Earth's rotation give the Super cells a little spin and organization,.....then magically, a tropical storm is formed. As the rising air cools and dries, it sinks down the middle of the storm creating an extremely deceitful blue eye and clear skies while the eye wall grows and regurgitates the air back into the system, a very efficient one when operating at full power.
The point, there is none really, just weather heading our way that's cool like a pickle. I feel like stopping now.
The Tractor.



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