This Weeks Recap:
The Week of June 5-12 was an interesting week of weather patterns. While the beginning of the week showed a strong Jet Stream that seemed to stay up north soon fell down on North Texas on Sunday, June 9th causing lots of damage including hundreds of trees blown over, thousands that lost power, and a deadly crane collapse in Dallas. This storm was the most intense and most deadly storm Dallas had got in many years. The unusually change in the Jet Stream caused this strong storm to form and intensify into a severe thunderstorm that raced through the Dallas area. This storm that became so suddenly intense is know as a Microburst. A Microburst (also known as rain bomb) is an intense downdraft of localized air from a Thunderstorm that travels to ground level and causes very heavy rain and winds up to 100 mph. Some Microburst can come without heavy rain too. Other than that storm, DFW has been mostly dry.
Here's a picture from the Washington's Post on the Dallas "Rain Bomb."
This Weeks Forecast:
Today- Partly Cloudy, High 86'. 10 % Chance of Showers early evening
Thursday- Partly Cloudy, High 85'
Friday- Mostly Cloudy, High 90'. 30% Chance of Thunderstorms
Saturday- Mostly Sunny, High 94'
Sunday- Cloudy, High 91'. Some Thunderstorms developing late that night
Monday- Scattered Thunderstorms, High 84'
Tuesday- AM Thunderstorms, High 88'. Some Severe storms could develop
Wednesday- Sunny, High 92'
This Weeks Weather Question...
How does Severe Weather Form?
The first question you have to answer first is, "What is a Thunderstorm?" A Thunderstorm is the result of Convection, an upward airflow that brings moisture and heat up into the sky forming clouds. Of course, there are other conditions that must occur for a Thunderstorm to form but that is a Key one. Now, a Thunderstorm is considered Severe when one of the three signs are happening-
-1+ Inch Hail.
-Wind Gusts exceed 57.5 mph.
-A tornado.
When one of the three are currently happening, the National Weather Service will Issue a Severe Thunderstorm Warning. When a Tornado is present, the National Weather service will Issue a Tornado Warning. Another Forecasting Tool that is often used is called a Convective Outlook which measures the Heat and Moisture air flow that could produce Severe Weather. There are 5 Levels.
1. Marginal Risk
2. Slight Risk
3. Enhanced Risk
4. Moderate Risk
5. High Risk
Each Risk Level has different predictions on what the weather conditions will be like for those people under the Risk. The High Risk for example is rarely issued because the risk is only issued when Meteorologist predict multiple very strong Super Cells that could produce multiple intense long lived Tornadoes. Depending on the risks, The National Weather Service could issue a Severe Thunderstorm Watch or Tornado watch because they are expecting this selected area to have potential in producing theses types of storms. Now that we have talked about how people predict and warn about storms, how do severe storms really form?
When the sun heats the earth, (convection) The air will get heated as well. When the warm air is forced to rise, it will fly up into the atmosphere, heating it. The moist air will soon loose its moisture and the cold water vapor will form clouds. This process continues and if the cloud lasts, the arctic cold air up above the CAPE will soon meet with the cloud and continue the updraft process and grow the storm. If the Jet Stream is right and a low pressure system (key for severe weather) is present, a Super cell could form. A super cell is a long lasting intense storm that is very large in appearance and rotates as it feeds off of the moisture in the atmosphere. They typically last 1-3 hours and produce hail, strong winds, and tornadoes. To learn more about all types of Severe thunderstorms, visit https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/thunderstorms/types/
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Added New Blog Categories! ex. Weekly Update, Current Weather, etc.
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Bug Fixes!
Coming Soon:
-More Weather Photography!
-Blogs will now be sent out to recap a strong storm!
-More "About Weather" Types!
-Maybe a surprise thing too!
Wow, very educational! I like the “rain bomb” picture.