Archive for 'Education'
Lake Michigan and Local Weather 101
Posted on06. Jul, 2011 by Adam.
Lake Michigan can greatly influence the weather in the shoreline communities, but how? Check out the satellite image below. Notice anything? Maybe? Maybe not? Let’s highlight some features of interest: Notice the lack of cumulus clouds over the lake and the area surrounding the lake. Why is this important? Cumulus clouds [the big cottony puff [...]
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Wall Cloud Refresher
Posted on27. Jan, 2011 by Danny.
We are getting down to storm season so for those who like to follow me or the newer chasers out there I am going to attempt to put a little comparison together here to educate a wall cloud vs not a wall cloud. A wall cloud is defined by the AMS as “a local, often [...]
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Chasers as first responders?
Posted on21. Oct, 2010 by Jesse.
The sun is shining brightly on a small hamlet in anytown, USA, but things are far from ordinary in what would otherwise be a tranquil Saturday afternoon in a hearth of Americana’s Shangri-La. As you stumble out of your chase vehicle, an eerie calm settles over the area. All across the immediate landscape destruction ensues. [...]
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Hodographs
Posted on29. Apr, 2010 by Ryan.
You may have heard forecast write-ups referring to hodographs in their forecasts and wondered either: how do they work? or how do they improve my forecasting? This article will first walk you through what a hodograph is, what to look for and how it can help in severe weather forecasts. Meteorologists use a hodograph to [...]
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Skew-T Indicies
Posted on05. Mar, 2010 by Ryan.
If you have ever looked at a forecast sounding and wondered what all of those numbers and letters were on the side of the graph, we have your answer. They are indices which allow forecasters to take a quick glance at different aspects of the atmosphere without having to compute all of the formulas by [...]
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Upper Air
Posted on04. Feb, 2010 by Ryan.
This portion of the website will be educate the user on how to interpret the weather and its effects above the surface. It is important to note that the atmosphere extends to space and has many different layers. However, we will only discuss the thermosphere, which is the closest layer to the earth. This whole [...]
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Skew-T
Posted on16. Jan, 2010 by Ryan.
A Skew-t is a graphical representation of the atmosphere in one single column of air. It allows forecasters to gauge nearly everything about the environment: moisture, instability, shear, and environmental temperatures just to sample a few. A seasoned forecaster can quickly glance at a sounding and understand the basic stability of the atmosphere. A Skew-t [...]
