by WeatherFlow meteorologist Shea Gibson. As a quick recap, The Intertropical Convergence Zone where tropical storms form, or the “ITCZ”, is heavily impacted by the Saharan Air Layer (or “SAL”), which is a dust layer off the western African coast along the lower and mid levels of the atmosphere. This dry, dusty more stable air rides just over the…
by WeatherFlow meteorologist Shea Gibson For SAL-ty Atlantic Part I of this series, please see: http://blog.weatherflow.com/sal-ty-atlantic-the-saharan-air-layer/ For SAL-ty Atlantic Part III of this series, please see: http://blog.weatherflow.com/sal-ty-atlantic-part-iii/ So far, the Atlantic Season has seen two named storms: CAT 2 Hurricane Arthur – which formed off the SE coast and made landfall over coastal NC… and Hurricane Bertha,…
by WeatherFlow meteorologist Shea Gibson 6/25/14 See part II of this series here: http://blog.weatherflow.com/sal-ty-atlantic-the-saharan-air-layer-part-ii/ See part III of this series here: http://blog.weatherflow.com/sal-ty-atlantic-part-iii/ The “Dusty Tongue” of the Sahara keeps the northern ITCZ and Eastern Caribbean dried out through June 2014. The Saharan Air Layer, or SAL, is fed by Easterly mid-level jetting over the deserts of Africa…
Baja Guide Links Daily Human Forecast Home | Why Baja blows | Feedback: Baja forecast | | Road Rules | Driving Down | Where to go. | | Food & Water | Camping| Resorts | Money, insurance, pets | Hurricane Diary | Windless days | East Cape driving maps | Fish/Surf | Baja photos | Driving down Baja this season? Be sure to see all the updates with close up maps and places to stay. Use the Driving Down link. A Baja trip is not just…
Just caught a good example in the VA area of conditions that reflect two of my staple bullet points in synoptic setups such as the one we are seeing today. (*Heads up for fluky conditions / shifty directions as each synoptic feature changes position / gains and or loses influence) and (*Showers and or thunderstorms…
Every time I check on our forecasts over this last month the Outer Banks have been going off. This is not what I’ve been used to seeing these last few years and reminds me of the “good old days” when we used to see day after day after day of strong south and SW…
This snapshot of wind observations combined with a radar image of storms moving through NJ from W to E is a good example of a gust front / outflow boundary increasing our wind speeds out ahead of approaching storms. A gust front / outflow boundary is simply a storm scale mass of cold / cool…
The recent synoptic setup lately provides us with a good example of a blocking high entrenched out in the Atlantic. A blocking high is simply an area of high pressure that is relatively stationary for an extended period of time. The series of surface maps below show the blocking high staying put through Saturday morning as it…
Rain can effect winds in very different ways depending on the vertical conditions. Today we saw a large area of precip into VA waters and check out the mixing induced by the showers on the western shores.
This is where our Meteorologists will post topics for their discussion and to share concepts that we observe and help better understand the complexities of predicting winds in the areas that we focus on. Not all posts will have answers, but all are aimed at stimulating discussion. If you wish to comment on…