Cloud Stalker: kite in the sky

Friday, April 18, 2008

Sky Watch Friday

Today's Sky Watch Picture represents the beautiful weather we have been having.
I took this picture in February at Starkey wilderness park in New Port Richey Florida.
It was a great day for kite flying my husband and son and I had a great time that day. We brought our dog Maddie who loved the fact i could take her off the leash and let her run. I have so many sky pictures I cant wait for each Friday when I can share everybody! If you want to join the fun please visit Wiggers world for rules and links to sky pictures from around the world. Just click Wigger world.

Weather wise, BEAUTIFUL! If your in to that kind of weather this is the time of the year I would love to be traveling in the plains talk about awesome weather! The view on storms out there is something I will never get to see here in Florida.

This is mammatus clouds in Nebraska

This is Mammatus clouds in Florida.
Big difference.
Don't get me wrong I love My state the clouds are amazing!

I just hope my camera holds out until i can upgrade.
I hope everyone has a great weekend if you live by me in west pasco Florida you can expect blue skies all weekend with temps climbing in to the mid 80's.
sadly no storms are forecasted.
Jess
CloudStalker

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.