By: Stu Ostro
Published: September 1,2013
New Species of Weather System?
Credit: Wright-Weather.com
(MORE IMAGES: May/June 2013 | March 2013 | Feb. 2013 | Jan. 2013)
A low pressure system aloft moving backwards (east to west rather than west to east) from West Virginia to New Mexico?? Yes, that's what this one did! You can see that in the animation above as an area labeled "L" in the cooler colors, being forced to take an unusual path, the key being an exceptionally strong ridge of high pressure represented by the purple shades. The most bizarre case so far of the hundreds of extreme and/or unusual weather events in recent years I've documented that might be related to the changing climate.
Image credit: Gibson Ridge
Speaking of weird weather, you're not seeing double -- those
radar images are separated by several weeks! The one on the right was
the remnant circulation of Tropical Storm Chantal on July 13 as it
approached the coast of the Carolinas, incredibly similar in its
appearance and location on radar to an unnamed system on June 22, at left.
Dark spots such as these on water vapor satellite imagery are by no means unprecedented, but this is a particularly vivid one!
I explained what "MCSs" are awhile back in a blog,
and this shows a small one merging with a larger one in early August.
The result of the combo of thunderstorm clusters was severe, tragic
flash flooding.
Another tragic flash flood, this one in Manitou Springs, Colo.
Unlike some flash floods which are produced by thunderstorms which are
moving slowly and/or "training" over the same locations, resulting in
rain which keeps falling, these storms passed through relatively
quickly, but followed the watershed and busy U.S. 24 down the
mountainside, exacerbated by runoff from the Waldo Canyon burn area.
And yet another unfortunate result of heavy rain: Tropical
Storm Fernand, despite rapidly intensifying wind-wise and even attaining
an eye/eyewall structure on this radar image as it made landfall in
Mexico, was small in size and did not produce much impact from wind or
storm surge, but as its moisture slammed into the higher elevations away
from the coast, 13 people died from mudslides.
Smoke from the Rim Fire in California as seen on a high-resolution
satellite image. The red outline is where the satellite sensor detected
enough heat to be representative of a fire.
Soulik at the time of this satellite image was the equivalent of a
Category 4 hurricane. Although later past peak intensity, it remained
powerful and went on to hit Taiwan and mainland China hard.
This was not a hurricane, it was just an innocuous low pressure
system in the middle and upper part of the atmosphere. Through the end
of August, there have still not been any hurricanes in the Atlantic,
Caribbean, or Gulf in the 2013 hurricane season.
The black line is the average amount of instability in the tropical
Atlantic, in other words how conducive the atmosphere is to quickly
rising air and showers/thunderstorms. The squiggly blue line is how
unstable the air has actually been, running much below average most of
the time so far this season. That has contributed to the lack of
hurricanes so far. After the spike upward a few days ago the
instability has decreased again just as quickly, and we can hope this
hurricane season stays quieter than recent ones, but it's important to
never become complacent.
(MORE IMAGES: May/June 2013 | March 2013 | Feb. 2013 | Jan. 2013)
Australia Black Hole
Image credit: UW-Madison SSEC
Mesoscale Convective Systems
Image credit: NASA Earth Science Office
Manitou Springs Flash Flood
Image credit: Gibson Ridge
Tropical Storm Fernand
Image credit: Mexico National Weather Service
And yet another unfortunate result of heavy rain: Tropical
Storm Fernand, despite rapidly intensifying wind-wise and even attaining
an eye/eyewall structure on this radar image as it made landfall in
Mexico, was small in size and did not produce much impact from wind or
storm surge, but as its moisture slammed into the higher elevations away
from the coast, 13 people died from mudslides.
Image credit: Mexico National Weather Service
Rim Fire From Space
Image credit: NASA/GSFC MODIS Rapid Response
Typhoon Soulik
Image credit: Naval Research Laboratory
Bahamas Swirl
Image credit: weatherTAP.com
Lack of Tropical Instability
Image credit: NOAA/CIRA/RAMMB
(MORE IMAGES: May/June 2013 | March 2013 | Feb. 2013 | Jan. 2013)
MORE: Hurricanes From Space
This image from GOES-13 satellite, operated by
NOAA, shows the US east coast and Hurricane Earl on Sept. 3, 2010,
12:55 UTC. (NASA)
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