Cloud Stalker: Hail yea!!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Hail yea!!

Last evening about 6:30 We finally got a small storm, it didn't last long but with it came about 1/2 inch of rain strong winds and yes some small hail averaging from penny size to dime size an a couple nickle size. I love these quick summer pulse storms created by the heat and seabreeze, they don't last long but they have quite a punch. The sky was amazing after the storm but i used up all my battery taking video so i have nothing to show of how gorgeous the sky was. Another day another storm. Today we have more chances of scattered storms day time high today is 94....hot hot hot. I love it because its the heat that causes instability and with a little push from the east-coast seabreeze bam you got a storm.

We definitely got some much need rain!
until the next great shot....
Jess
Cloud Stalker

1 comment:

Debbie said...: Jess, love the peek-a-boo shot!

It's so hot, I'm delirious...check out my Weather Olympics today. You can be the Team Photographer! LOL; June 9, 2008 at 10:36 AM

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HAIL (3/4 inch or greater)

Hail can cause significant damage to your vehicle, break windows and damage roofs of homes and businesses.
Hail can cause significant bodily injuries such as broken bones and even blindness if wind blown.
Softball (4.5 inches) sized hail was reported in Lake Wales, Florida on March 30, 1996.
Haildrifts, up to four feet deep of dime to nickel sized hail, occurred in low-lying areas near Zephyrhills, Florida on January 29, 1997.
Hailstones the size of softballs can fall at speeds faster than 100 mph

supercell

Supercells derive their rotation through tilting of horizontal vorticity (an invisible horizontal vortex) caused by wind shear. Strong updrafts lift the air turning about a horizontal axis and cause this air to turn about a vertical axis. This forms the deep rotating updraft, the mesocyclone.
A cap or capping inversion is usually required to form a downdraft of sufficient strength. The cap puts an inverted (warm-above-cold) layer above a normal (cold-above-warm) boundary layer, and by preventing warm surface air from sinking too far, allows one or both of the following:
Air below the cap warms and/or becomes more moist
Air above the cap cools
This creates a warmer, moister layer below a cooler layer, which is increasingly unstable (because warm air is less dense and tends to rise). When the cap weakens or moves, explosive development follows.
In North America, supercells usually show up on Doppler radar as starting at a point or hook shape on the southwestern side, fanning out to the northeast. The heaviest precipitation is usually on the southwest side, ending abruptly short of the rain-free updraft base or main updraft (not visible to radar). The rear flank downdraft, or RFD, carries precipitation counterclockwise around the north and northwest side of the updraft base, producing a "hook echo" that indicates the presence of a mesocyclone.