sky watch/Fair-weather clouds

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Fair Weather Cumulus Clouds
Fair weather cumulus have the appearance of floating cotton and have a lifetime of 5-40 minutes. Known for their flat bases and distinct outlines, fair weather cumulus exhibit only slight vertical growth, with the cloud tops designating the limit of the rising air. Given suitable conditions, however, harmless fair weather cumulus can later develop into towering cumulonimbus clouds associated with powerful thunderstorms.

Fair weather cumulus are fueled by buoyant bubbles of air, or thermals, that rise upward from the earth's surface. As they rise, the water vapor within cools and condenses forming cloud droplets. Young fair weather cumulus have sharply defined edges and bases while the edges of older clouds appear more ragged, an artifact of cloud erosion. Evaporation along the cloud edges cools the surrounding air, making it heavier and producing sinking motion (or subsidence) outside the cloud.

Source


This will be my 17th Sky watch, wow. I look forward to this all week. This weeks pics are from Sunday, my son and I went on a nice long bike ride which ended up in a new park they built out side of our neighborhood. I got a lot of cool shots if you scroll down a little you will see a couple I posted.
I just Love the sky!

Thank you for stopping in Happy sky watching!
Jess
Cloud Stalker

Sky Watch Friday/What Determines Sky's Colors At Sunrise And Sunset?

Sky Watch Friday is hosted by:Tom, Sandy, IMAC , Klaus & Ivar. For a free trip around the world to see the skies click HERE.





What Determines Sky's Colors At Sunrise And Sunset?
ScienceDaily (Nov. 15, 2007) — The colors of the sunset result from a phenomenon called scattering, says Steven Ackerman, professor of meteorology at UW-Madison. Molecules and small particles in the atmosphere change the direction of light rays, causing them to scatter.



Scattering affects the color of light coming from the sky, but the details are determined by the wavelength of the light and the size of the particle. The short-wavelength blue and violet are scattered by molecules in the air much more than other colors of the spectrum. This is why blue and violet light reaches our eyes from all directions on a clear day. But because we can't see violet very well, the sky appears blue.

Scattering also explains the colors of the sunrise and sunset, Ackerman says.


“Because the sun is low on the horizon, sunlight passes through more air at sunset and sunrise than during the day, when the sun is higher in the sky. More atmosphere means more molecules to scatter the violet and blue light away from your eyes. If the path is long enough, all of the blue and violet light scatters out of your line of sight. The other colors continue on their way to your eyes. This is why sunsets are often yellow, orange, and red.”

And because red has the longest wavelength of any visible light, the sun is red when it’s on the horizon, where its extremely long path through the atmosphere blocks all other colors.





SOURCE
I hope everyone has a great weekend and have a great time sky watching!!!
Jess
Cloud Stalker

SKY WATCH FRIDAY/ON THURSDAY

To see the sky from around the world click on this link. Thanks to Tom, Sandy, IMAC & Klaus for making this so much fun! Today's Picture is from last week we had a A stationary front stalled over my area, which created such beautiful skies. If you scroll down to my past post you will see more of the beautiful skies i captured. With each passing moment the skies changed it was fantastic. God's handy work.

A stationary front is a boundary between two different air masses, neither of which is strong enough to replace the other. They tend to remain essentially in the same area for extended periods of time, and waves sometimes propagate along the frontal boundary. A wide variety of weather can be found along a stationary front, but usually clouds, prolonged precipitation, and storm trains are found there. Stationary fronts will either dissipate after several days or devolve into shear lines, but can change into a cold or warm front if conditions aloft change.-source





There was no rain for us here but along the seabreeze boundaries storms were popping up everywhere.

Jess
Cloud Stalker

Lotts of rain yesterday

That was right before the rain hit and once it did it didn't stop. April showers bring may flowers. I was hoping for some good storms but they were well into the interior of the state and also way south of me. No backyard chasing for me.
I chopped all my hair off, yes my mane is gone. I have never had my hair this short before. Of course I hate it, but it will be nice for the summer.
I opened my house back up, Highs stay right at the lower 80's for the week and if i can enjoy some fresh air i will!!
Monday's weather term: Altocumulus castellanus-
An altocumulus cloud showing vertical development.Individual cloud elements have tower like tops, often in shapes of tiny castles.

well thats all for me for now Have a good Monday!
Jess
Backyard Cloud stalker

"It's a little windy out there"

UPDATE:6:20pm
HOLY GOCKAMOLY CHEAK THIS OUT........
Special Weather Statement
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL
241 PM EDT MON OCT 1 2007

FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-020100-
LEVY-CITRUS-SUMTER-HERNANDO-PASCO-PINELLAS-HILLSBOROUGH-POLK-
MANATEE-HARDEE-HIGHLANDS-SARASOTA-DE SOTO-CHARLOTTE-LEE-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...CEDAR KEY...CHIEFLAND...CRYSTAL RIVER...
INVERNESS...BUSHNELL...THE VILLAGES...BROOKSVILLE...SPRING HILL...
NEW PORT RICHEY...ZEPHYRHILLS...CLEARWATER...ST. PETERSBURG...
BRANDON...TAMPA...LAKELAND...WINTER HAVEN...BRADENTON...
WAUCHULA...SEBRING...AVON PARK...SARASOTA...VENICE...ARCADIA...
PORT CHARLOTTE...PUNTA GORDA...CAPE CORAL...FORT MYERS
241 PM EDT MON OCT 1 2007

...INCREASING RAIN CHANCES ALONG WITH SOME POSSIBLE STRONG THUNDERSTORMS
FROM THE BAY AREA SOUTH OVERNIGHT INTO TUESDAY...

A WEAK AREA OF LOW PRESSURE EXTENDING FROM THE FLORIDA STRAITS NORTHEAST
TO THE BAHAMAS EARLY THIS AFTERNOON WILL DEEPEN SOME AS IT MOVES SLOWLY
WEST NORTHWEST INTO THE SOUTHEASTERN GULF WATERS LATER TONIGHT AND
TUESDAY. AS THIS LOW MOVES WEST NORTHWEST INTO THE GULF DEEP LAYERED
SOUTHEAST TO SOUTHERLY WIND FLOW WILL DRAW ABUNDANT TROPICAL MOISTURE
NORTHWARD INTO WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. THIS MOISTURE COMBINED
WITH INCREASING LARGE SCALE LIFT AND INCREASING WIND SHEAR PROFILES
WILL HELP TO INCREASE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
AND THE ADJACENT GULF WATERS LATER TONIGHT...WITH THIS ACTIVITY SPREADING
NORTH INTO WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA BY EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. AT THE PRESENT
TIME THE PRIMARY HAZARDS FROM ANY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY
RAINS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING STRIKES...AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS. IN ADDITION
INCREASING WIND SHEAR PROFILES WITHIN THE ATMOSPHERE MAY SUPPORT SOME
ISOLATED TORNADOES OR MARINE WATERSPOUTS IN THE VICINITY OF THE STRONGEST
STORMS OVERNIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING.

RESIDENTS...VISITORS...AND MARINERS OF WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS TONIGHT
AND TUESDAY. IF HAZARDOUS WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR LOCATION...MOVE INDOORS
IMMEDIATELY. STAY TUNED TO YOUR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS OR NOAA WEATHER
RADIO FOR POSSIBLE UPDATES AND OR WARNINGS LATER TONIGHT AND TUESDAY.

$$

JCM
Oh my goodness...And me i have to be at work at 7am



Notice the big high (very high pressure and increasing) in the northeast. Winds rotate clockwise around the high and are getting pulled into the low in the central US. As the high gets stronger (or the low gets deeper, in some cases) the winds get faster. which just might be the case here. I just read in Jeff Gammon's blog that they are talking about a sub tropical system possibly developing off the southeast coast.
Peggy Willenberg(one of the Twistersisters) My Mentor has sent me my first weather text book "Meteorology Today-seventh edition"my journey into meteorology has now taken an interesting turn in to the academic world.
Se also sent me a book called "Weather forecasting hand book" By Tim Vasques
Peggy told me I cannot read this book until I fully understand the text book.
I can see why as I had to look through it,( its all greek to me)All of it is pretty much over my head, for now.
Peggy also sent me this heads up about the developing upper low:AS THE SYSTEM CONTINUES EAST NORTHEASTWARD DURING THE MIDDLE TO
LATTER PART OF NEXT WEEK...A DEVELOPING UPPER LOW/SURFACE LOW NEAR
THE FLORIDA PENINSULA WILL PROBABLY INHIBIT MOISTURE
RETURN...DIMINISHING SEVERE THREAT. AT LEAST A LOCALIZED SEVERE
THREAT IN THE FORM OF TORNADOES/DAMAGING WIND GUSTS COULD ACCOMPANY
SYSTEM OVER FLORIDA AND ADJACENT PORTIONS OF THE EASTERN GULF/ SOUTH
ATLANTIC COAST STATES NEXT TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY...BUT UNCERTAINTIES ARE
LARGE WITH THIS SYSTEM AT THE PRESENT TIME.
Maybe something more to look forward to this week. One never knows.
well im off to start my day, I hope you enjoy yours!
Always keeping my eyes to the sky....Jess

while you were sleeping

Last night before i went to bed i was watching the radars, I was looking at Humberto.
I was thinking to myself well that sure does look like a hurricane to me at that point it was still A TS. I wish i would have saved that picture to share, because now waking it has been moved up to A hurricane with wind at 85mph. As Dew said first one in two years.
Right now I'm learning about the Bermuda high, interesting feature it is, as sits in the atlantic in the summer it placement is like a shield to hurricanes, i'm still in the learning progress but it appears to me the main reason why Florida has not seen its share of tropical systems in the last couple years.


Now what i don't understand the bottom picture is the high in the '04/'05 how did we get storms as it looks like the high is wrapped around the state.
Like I said I'm still learning anybody out there that can add to my knowledge would greatly be appreciated!
Anyway TD9 doesnt seem to fairing well with the wind shearing and i read on Jeff's blog that is forecasted for the wind shear to get stronger in a couple of pics i have u can plainly see..

well i'm off to work..bummer i'd much rather sit here and watch the radars... but gotta pay those pesty bills.
Ta ta for now.....Jess