• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

surface-based convection

John Farley

Supporter
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
1,946
Location
Pagosa Springs, CO
I observed an interesting phenomenon yesterday in Santa Fe, NM. At an art show in the parking lot of a small shopping center, I, along with several others, noticed a small whirlwind in the parking lot. Nothing unusual about that in this area. But here is what was interesting: The whirlwind lofted up a plastic baggie - but after the whirlwind died out, the baggie just kept rising. Several of us watched it continue to rise until we lost track of it around 250-300 feet above the ground. It never dropped back down that we could see, so I am inclined to think it just kept rising. At the time, there was a moderate cumulus cloud just east or NE of our location, drifting to the west or southwest. A few minutes later it had become a TCU more or less overhead, and by 20-30 minutes later it had become a thunderstorm a couple miles to the west or southwest of our location. I am inclined to think that this convection helps to explain why the baggie just kept rising. In any case, I would say a baggie works pretty well as a way to visually approximate the movement of a parcel in a convective environment.
 
Interesting observation, John. Maybe if the LCL's were lower and the instability great enough to push that TCu into a full blown Cb, your baggie might have been caught in the circulation and condensation funnel of a landspout. ;)
 
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