Cloud Stalker: rain drops keep falling on my head

Thursday, May 22, 2008

rain drops keep falling on my head

A stalled front just north of the Florida/Georgia and Florida/Alabama border along with increasing moisture and a few upper level disturbances will provide much of the state with a chance of much needed rainfall today. A low pressure system developing in the Gulf of Mexico will send abundant Gulf moisture northeastward across the region today. This in conjunction with an upper level disturbance moving over the northern Peninsula today and the frontal boundary to the north will lead to scattered or widespread showers and a few storms by this afternoon. An area of rain in the Gulf of Mexico is already moving onshore near Tampa as well as a few showers moving northeast from the Florida Straits over southern Florida. These storms and areas of rain will gradually spread north and eastward throughout the day. The best chances for rain will be along the Gulf Coast and over Central Florida today with mainly isolated to scattered showers and storms over extreme South Florida and extreme Northeast Florida further away from the disturbances.

Not a chase day but the rain we need. My house is opened up and the smell of rain is flowing through. Mother nature is providing her own relief for the wild fires raging in are state. I went outside to see if I could grab some cloud shots. Nimbostratus ruled the sky I took a couple shots and i played with some puddle shots that I think look rather interesting. Thanks to sky watch bloggers for this idea.

Have a great day! see ya tomorrow for sky watch!
Jess
Cloud Stalker

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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.