Greenage (Conditions leading To)

[scott r currens]

Water in large quantities is blue-green. It would make sense to me that light shining through liquid precipitation in the right conditions (low sun angle, width of rain shaft) would filter out the reds and leave the blue-green tint. I have often heard and once believed that hail caused storm to appear green. But from a physics stand point it doesn't work. How would frozen precipitation cause the storm to appear green?

 

[Wes Carter]

Water in large quantities is blue-green. It would make sense to me that light shining through liquid precipitation in the right conditions (low sun angle, width of rain shaft) would filter out the reds and leave the blue-green tint. I have often heard and once believed that hail caused storm to appear green. But from a physics stand point it doesn't work. How would frozen precipitation cause the storm to appear green?

Scott, I was with you on that but them I remembered seeing an iceberg when I was in the navy. It was white when we were approaching it. But as we passed it, a green tint could be seen. So I Googled images of icebergs, and many of them were green or blue-green.

I'm going to read some of the articles rdale posted to satiate my curiosity now that this has been brought up.

Link to photos of icebergs on greendiary.com.

 

[Greg Blumberg]

I was thinking that maybe hail in some certain stage of it's life could have that tint. I'm not sure about the light properties of different types of precipitation in different stages. Hail melting, hail refreezing, supercooled drops, heavy rain...

Any way to correlate the atmosphere's freezing line in a thunderstorm to where you are seeing the green color?

I'm not too sure, but those are just some ideas out there.

 

[Jeremy Den Hartog]

Interesting discussion...it just kind of goes to show there are still ALOT of unknowns out there. Man I love weather!

Like several others, I've always associated the green tint with hail (not with tornadoes though tornadoes almost always form in storms with hail which may be why some people associate the green with tornadoes). I remember reading somewhere that at one point people were associating mammatus clouds (pictured below) with tornadic storms. Of course we now know this is not true...

 

[rdale]

I remember reading somewhere that at one point people were associating mammatus clouds (pictured below) with tornadic storms.

As a kid in the 70's I recall that quite well... I'm not sure how that started, but my family knew that if you saw them it meant get to the basement!

 

[Jeremy Den Hartog]

As a kid in the 70's I recall that quite well... I'm not sure how that started, but my family knew that if you saw them it meant get to the basement!

Crazy days I'm sure but at least the public is more aware now too

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

I beleive this "green color" is only a result of the angle of the sun and the storm structure (raleigh scattering) and such.

The presence of hail / light scattering can make for the green color, and large hail aloft scattering light at the right angle can be the cause of the green color. Since tornadic storms often have large hail most of the time, and occur late in the afternoon most of the time, that's probably what filters out the green color.

Above: One of the craziest shades of green color was in Texas on May 25, 2000 associated with the core of a (formerly supercell) storm line with 75 MPH winds and hail to 1". The photo does NOT do the color justice, the color was like being under "green water" or having a grass-green cellophane filter over your eyes!

Upon exiting the back-side of the same storm (above), the "towering" line of storms was sun-lit by the setting sun and their tops appeared white, yet the base was an orange / red color, and the mid section, loaded with hail, was a greenish white ... Forming a conclusion that the ice / hail and sun angle in the mid-section of the storm causes this type of light filtering. Below / under the storm, the green color should appear darker / more intense.

 

[Karla Dorman]

Originally posted by RDALE: ... but my family knew that if you saw them it meant get to the basement!

Ummmm ... what basement?!?? Not in MY part of "The Alley!"

I've seen plenty of 'greenage' here in Texas, without the tor or large hail. Two of the most amazing/prettiest/scariest was from June and August of this year -

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Good day all,

Above: One of the craziest shades of green color was in Texas on May 25, 2000 associated with the core of a (formerly supercell) storm line with 75 MPH winds and hail to 1". The photo does NOT do the color justice, the color was like being under "green water" or having a grass-green cellophane filter over your eyes!

Actually what got me thinking it'd be beneficial to better understand the physics behind the greenish/blue tint was looking back at some photos from just this previous year....

Capturing a close-up photo of a tornado with a DISTINCTIVE green display has been added to my list of chasing goals, and is now right next to capturing a close-up tornado with windmills in the shot. Better yet I'm setting out for windmills and tornado in the foreground with the Green Display in the background! ALMOST had that scenario West of Kinsley ealier this year...

 

[Karla Dorman]

Dustin,

*gobsmacked*

Those. Are. AMAZING!! shots! Particularly the first. Holy smoke. Beautiful, in a terrifying sort of way. May I use that as my background on my PC? (Thought I'd ask first)

 

[Wes Carter]

Last year near Dodge City, KS I caught this green tint:

I was so amazed at how beautiful it was and had been wondering about what caused it ever since. I live in the Southeast and have seen this green tint only once here, and it was nowhere nearly as vivid nor dramatic. But I have seen it several times out in the Plains. I had always assumed that it either had something to do with hail or with RFD because we get less hail down here and with the tendency for our supercells to be more HP catching the RFD slot is often a losing proposition.

I submitted this photo to the local NWS for use as a funnel cloud look-alike. It also has the green tint. This one was taken near Garden City last year in that storm that dropped the softball sized hail on the car dealerships on highway 83.

 

[Scott Weberpal]

Capturing a close-up photo of a tornado with a DISTINCTIVE green display has been added to my list of chasing goals, and is now right next to capturing a close-up tornado with windmills in the shot. Better yet I'm setting out for windmills and tornado in the foreground with the Green Display in the background! ALMOST had that scenario West of Kinsley ealier this year...

Funny you mention that, when I first came across this thread, that was the exact event that came to mind...

 

[Connor McCrorey]

This was 4/23/08, near Lipan, TX. It only produced a brief EF-0, but it was without a doubt the meanest looking storm I have ever seen. The first capture is focused on the wall cloud/developing tornado, and the second focuses more on the "greenage."

EDIT: And yes, this was in the middle of the afternoon!

 

[Jason Boggs]

Some greenage near Amarillo in 08.

 

[Wes Carter]

Funny you mention that, when I first came across this thread, that was the exact event that came to mind...

That's the greenest green I've ever seen, but Connor's green looks real mean.

I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself.