Archives for February 29, 2008

Speaking of weather–we were speaking of it, right?–it looks like my plans for a Sunday chase down in Texas are scrubbed, and with them, any thoughts of traveling with this present weather system as it deepens over the next few days.\r\n\r\nLooking at the roll call of components for a decent chase, I come up short.\r\n\r\nCAPE? Check. CAPE of 1,000 south of Dallas is sufficient. \r\n\r\nMoisture? Check. Dewpoints hovering around sixty degrees.\r\n\r\nBacking surface winds? Check.\r\n\r\nWinds veering with height? Check. \r\n\r\nUpper level support?\r\n\r\nAhem…upper level support?\r\n\r\nUpper level support, please report for duty. \r\n\r\nI just don”t see anything in the forecast models in the way of strong wind fields. Maybe that will change, but I can”t see making a 2,000-mile-plus round trip to find out. Actually, the trip would probably end up more in the neighborhood of 3,000 miles, since if my chase partner, Bill, and I drove down there, we”d almost certainly head along the Gulf Coast to check out the more promising setup Monday.\r\n\r\nBut gas isn”t getting any cheaper, time and energy are commodities that can”t be priced, and discretion now will hopefully pay off in the future as more vigorous scenarios move into the southern plains.\r\n\r\nAs for this Sunday, looks like it”ll be church as usual. And since I happen to love my little church, that”s just fine with me.

What is CAPE and what is its significance for severe weather? How does an outflow boundary originate? Where do you normally encounter drylines, and why do storm chasers love them? What is a supercell, and what are the three supercell modes? What is helicity, and how does it affect tornado formation?\r\n\r\nTake up storm chasing as a hobby and you”ll soon start asking questions about things you never even knew existed. The good news is, the Internet is rich in learning resources. You simply will not believe the information that is available on the web, or the professional-grade forecasting tools you can tap into online.\r\n\r\nOne great source of answers to scores of questions similar to the ones above is Haby Hints. Meteorologist Jeff Haby has provided a unique and invaluable educational site for weather novices. According to his bio, “Since the year 2000, Mr. Haby has launched theweatherprediction.com website. The website was developed to benefit his hundreds of current and past students as well as the web community at large.”\r\n\r\nHaby Hints is the place to go if you have questions about weather. The learning curve for becoming a storm chaser has to start somewhere, and there are no other sites I”m aware of that explain in such accessible, concise, and easy-to-understand language the atmospheric alchemy over which chasers ponder. If storm chasing or weather in general fascinates you, drop in on Haby”s site. It”s a class act, and well worth your while.