Category: Weather Blog
How the Jet Stream Affects Surface Winds
What is a Jet Stream? In its simplest form, a jet stream is any prominent upper-level (above 500 mb) air current. For each hemisphere, there are 2 main jet streams—the polar jet stream, and the subtropical jet stream. A jet stream does not have to be (and rarely ever is) complete around the globe at...
Temperature Inversions – What, How, and Why?
Have you ever heard a meteorologist talk about an “inversion”? Or maybe you read about a “low-level inversion” in a National Weather Service forecast discussion and wondered what that means? If so, you’re in luck. Let’s break down what a temperature inversion is, how it forms and “breaks”, and why it matters to wind sports…
West Coast Wind Blog: Long spell of El Norte winds winds for Baja
The last week of November 2020 has see day of winds over 20 knots for La Ventana, Baja Sur, Mexico. The graphic below shows the large high pressure area that has changed shape and size a lot over this period but has stay centered in the Great Basin and 4 corners (where all the USA…
High Pressure brings Destruction and Protection
by Meteorologist, Kerry Challoner Anderson This week an unusually strong High-pressure system dropped out of the Canadian Plains into the Rockies. The center of the High trekked through Wyoming and Colorado bringing early season snowfall and setting off strong downsloping winds through the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. The storm had all the ingredients for a…
Potentially Unsurvivable Storm Surge from Hurricane Laura
by Meteorologist, Kerry Challoner Anderson As Hurricane Laura approaches the Louisiana and Texas coasts, it brings with it the potential for producing devastating storm surge. Storm surge is created when sustained strong winds flow across an ocean for an extended time period. Those winds push against the water, and since the liquid is free to…
Subtropical Moisture Bubbles Up into California
by Meteorologist Kerry Challoner Anderson. It is not usual to have rain, let alone thunderstorms in Southern California in the summer. But when subtropical moisture is tapped that is exactly what we get. Here is a look at why you will need to watch for lightning if you are heading to the beach.
Reading Satellite Images – What the Clouds are Telling You
Maybe you’ve seen satellite images or loops of beautiful moving cloudscapes, ever-changing and flowing through the atmosphere. Sure, the quality of the images makes for amazing time-lapse movies, but do you know how to read what the clouds are telling you? Stay tuned for a quick lesson from a typical Florida July day. The loop…
Major Derecho Event for Midwest
by Meteorologist Kerry Challoner Anderson The Upper Midwest experienced a Derecho on Monday, August 10, 2020. This is not a common event, so you may not be familiar with a Derecho. In fact, this area of the country only sees, on average, one Derecho event per year. Derechos are defined as a line of fasting…
Hurricane Isaias Leaves Its Signature on Weatherflow Stations
by Meteorologist, Kerry Challoner Anderson Hurricanes don’t come calling often but when they do Weatherflow wants to gather as much data as possible to aid in the study and mitigation of these storms. With our extensive network of stations, we were able to capture Hurricane Isaias as it rolled up the Eastern Seaboard on August…