Cloud Stalker: Sky watch/Stormy skies

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Sky watch/Stormy skies

SKY WATCH
Share your sky shots with the world!! Go to Tom Wiggley's site and register your web address!

Florida summers are awesome!! The skies are always so amazing! These photos were taken yesterday afternoon, I through in the last one for a little color.
Have a great weekend!
Jess
Cloud stalker

19 comments:

SandyCarlson said...: I love the greys and greens together.; June 26, 2008 at 9:34 PM
Anonymous said...: the clouds are so majestic! very nice; June 26, 2008 at 9:39 PM
Sandpiper (Lin) said...: Very dramatic! I love your title banner, too.; June 26, 2008 at 9:45 PM
bobbie said...: The sky seems literally FULL of clouds. There is no sky - only clouds; June 26, 2008 at 11:20 PM
chrome3d said...: Florida seems strangely grey through your eyes. Not so colourful as CSI Miami. Thanks for throwing in some green too.; June 26, 2008 at 11:53 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm back ...
Oh no, cried blog world ... he's back!

But guess what, I'm so happy. If I didn´t rejoin SWF I would never have the chance to see these great photos!; June 27, 2008 at 4:58 AM
Tom said...: You lived up to your name with these beauties..; June 27, 2008 at 6:12 AM
Suzi-k said...: hehe, I guess there must be some plus sides to putting up with all those cyclones and hurricanes. Being able to take photos like these are definitely one of those plusses!; June 27, 2008 at 6:25 AM
kjpweb said...: Yep - that's pretty much like it looks here in Central FL, too. Though right now it's just one tone gray...
Good ones! Cheers, Klaus; June 27, 2008 at 8:53 AM
Petunia said...: This is a stormy skies indeed and the clouds looks like they are in a hurry:)

Petunia's SWF; June 27, 2008 at 10:29 AM
AphotoAday said...: Looks like a lot of SkyWatch people are experiencing these moody skies right now. Here in California we have so many fires burning that it is next to impossible to see the sky for all the smoke in the air...
Hope you are having a great Sky Watch Friday.; June 27, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Mental P Mama said...: Great shots...I love Florida storms!; June 27, 2008 at 11:04 AM
me ann my camera said...: Beautiful clouds in a lovely setting!
ann at varying seasons; June 27, 2008 at 3:22 PM
Alan said...: Greetings from Jacksonville. My SWF shots look almost exactly like yours (and our fellow blogger at Champions Gate in Orlando). Same day, same line of storms, three different places in the state. Kinda cool. :); June 27, 2008 at 3:44 PM
Pat - Arkansas said...: Broody, broody skies! Great Sky Watch.; June 27, 2008 at 4:29 PM
Unknown said...: Great captures for sky watch!
Have a nice weekend.; June 27, 2008 at 5:21 PM
Anonymous said...: I like your SWF post!; June 27, 2008 at 6:29 PM
Pearl Maple said...: Great addition to sky watch friday, clouds and stormy skies add lots of interest to the horizon.

Thanks for sharing your views.; June 29, 2008 at 7:34 PM
Debbie said...: Jess,

All your SWF clouds are beautiful...great job!; June 30, 2008 at 6:24 AM

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.