Weather on spaceweather.com

[Eric Flescher]

Today on spaceweather.com (if not today look in archives -see bottom) for these images. It says that mammatus are "when storms are breaking up"

This is aa great all purpose sight that I look at each day. I will try to post when I see weather related phenomenon
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Yesterday in the Czech Republic, Matus Kocka photographed some "very strange clouds" hanging over Brno where he is going to college:

These are mammatus clouds. They form in turbulent air on the undersides of thunderstorms. Although mammatus clouds are popularly thought to signal the approach of severe weather, new research shows the opposite is true. These lumpy clouds are most often seen when storms are breaking up. Indeed, Kocka photographed these "after some strong weather" swept through Brno. More images: #1, #2, #3, #4

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I disagree with the message of this article, although you normally witness these clouds after the passage of a storm and they can occur during weakening. I still believe that they are an excellent indicator of the severe potential (vigorous, persistent updraft). Here is the article I found...

[url=http://www.usatoday.com/weather/tg/wmamatus/wmamatus.htm]
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[Eric Flescher]

It has been a few days but that mammatus pic is still there on the main page. If not seen have a look.

**

Today on spaceweather.com (if not today look in archives -see bottom) for these images. It says that mammatus are "when storms are breaking up"

This is aa great all purpose sight that I look at each day. I will try to post when I see weather related phenomenon
**

Yesterday in the Czech Republic, Matus Kocka photographed some "very strange clouds" hanging over Brno where he is going to college:

These are mammatus clouds. They form in turbulent air on the undersides of thunderstorms. Although mammatus clouds are popularly thought to signal the approach of severe weather, new research shows the opposite is true. These lumpy clouds are most often seen when storms are breaking up. Indeed, Kocka photographed these "after some strong weather" swept through Brno. More images: #1, #2, #3, #4

***
[/b]

 

[Eric Flescher]

Congrats to Eric for this great picture on spaceweather 7/2/06
if not that day goto site and look at archives


Tornado and Rainbow Over Kansas
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Credit & Copyright: Eric Nguyen (Oklahoma U.), www.mesoscale.ws
Explanation: The scene might have been considered serene if it weren't for the tornado. Last June in Kansas, storm chaser Eric Nguyen photographed this budding twister in a different light -- the light of a rainbow. Pictured above, a white tornado cloud descends from a dark storm cloud. The Sun, peeking through a clear patch of sky to the left, illuminates some buildings in the foreground. Sunlight reflects off raindrops to form a rainbow. By coincidence, the tornado appears to end right over the rainbow. Streaks in the image are hail being swept about by the high swirling winds. Over 1,000 tornadoes, the most violent type of storm known, occur on Earth every year, many in tornado alley. If you see a tornado while driving, do not try to outrun it -- park your car safely, go to a storm cellar, or crouch under steps in a basement.

 

[Eric Flescher]

There's a full Moon out, the "Thunder Moon", named after the storms of summer.
spaceweather.com u7/10/2006


Shows thumderheads in the bright moonlight

 

[Eric Flescher]

spaceweather.com
7/13/2006

If you think this cloud looks menacing, you're right. It's a cumulonimbus cloud. Inside it, water vapor is condensing into water droplets, releasing heat to power violent thunderstorms, lightning and even tornadoes.

"Shortly after the photo was taken (on July 8th), a severe thunderstorm hit the greater Tucson area," reports photographer Robert M. Elowitz. Cumulonimbus clouds can rise to staggering heights, 70,000 ft or more. If you see one, admire the view, then take cover.

 

[Eric Flescher]

interesting image 7/14/2006
if beyond that look in archives


DISTURBING THE PEACE: You don't see this every day--a peaceful rainbow split down the middle by a bolt of lightning:

On June 28th, Julie Juratic took the picture as a thunderstorm was winding down over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio.

Although we seldom see them together, rainbows and lightning are related. Both are created by rain. Raindrops make rainbows by catching the rays of the sun and spreading them into their underlying colors. Raindrops make lightning by rubbing against ice crystals in thunderclouds. Like socks rubbing against carpet, raindrops rubbing against ice crystals create an electrical charge and--zap!--lightning.

more images: from George Varros of Mount Airy, Maryland.

 

[Terrence Cook]

I can blame (or thank) my dad for getting me into weather, I can thank spaceweather.com for my second greatest passion of the skies... Aurora Borealis. The coolest thing that I ever saw was a 9 hour display of Auroras, this is better that seeing my first and only tornado... probably because it wasn't very big. Thanks to spaceweather.com, spacew.com and sec.noaa.gov you can teach yourself and forecast the Northern Lights, just like all of us do for severe and tornadic weather. Understanding solar weather and astronomy is just as rewarding as meterology and it won't kill you . If I had to choose I would take Earth weather because it occurs "in your face", Auroras occur 80-400 miles above the Earth's surface.

Here is a link to my Aurora pics from the 9 hour marathon which occured between November 7-8 of 2004.

http://community.webshots.com/album/214994299HnfJQZ

all pics are 4 second Timelapse and taken in my backyard

Great stuff!!!

 

[Eric Flescher]

Terrence

Yes Auroras are real cool. Nice set of pics. You saw lots of color when they appeared


http://community.webshots.com/album/214994299HnfJQZ

I have missed the auroras which have appeared in Kansas the last 1.5 years. Either I went out too early and they appeared later or vica versa. Sometimes they were too low and PS nobody in our astro group reported them.

I have seen auroras in Maine ( bobbing searchlight like pillars ) and Michigan (red and green curtains). I also saw them as electric blue lights off in the Northern distance near Buffalo NY while flying from Kansas City to Providence RI early October.


The Michigan was a real twilight zone experience.
I woke up early in the morning about 2am in my apartment in Ypsiltanti,MI.
I think the date which I can't remember was sometime between 1977- 1978.

I for some reason then turned on the TV and heard the Pope had passed away.

Then I swung the curtains open for some reason and saw these auroras all over the sky.

woooooowww

I have never been able to take pictures of them but some of in my astro club have.


Congrats.

Dr. Eric Flescher ([email protected]), Olathe, KS: State of Kansas Solar System Ambassador: Comet Observers Coordinator- Astronomy LeagueAstronomy League/ Astronomical Society of Kansas, KC,MO-Louisburg,KS: http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/comet/comet.htm: [email protected]r. Eric Flescher ([email protected]), Olathe, KS: State of Kansas Solar System Ambassador:
E.O.A.S. (Earth, Oceans, Atmosphere and Space Blog) -<http://www.xanga.com/dreric1kansas>
EOAS
: Subscribe to (send your email to)< [email protected]>:
Eric's Black Sun Eclipse Website- http://members.aol.com/kcstarguy/blacksun/eclipse.htm
Eric's Black Sun Eclipse
Satori Astronomy Website- http://members.aol.com/kcstarguy/satoriast...riastronomy.htm
http://members.aol.com/kcstarguy/satoriast...riastronomy.htm]Satori Astronomy[/url]

 

[Eric Flescher]

first see the unusual one on spaceweather.com
7/17/2006 ( if not then look at archives)
then more at
http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/droplets/corona.htm

A corona may be seen when thin clouds partially veil the sun or moon. Look for one around the moon when it is near to full and the sky is dark. When searching for a solar corona, shield the sun and reduce the light intensity to safer levels by looking at the sky reflected in a pool of water or a mirror of plain glass. Staring directly at or near to the sun can permanently damage eyesight.

Coronae have an intensely bright central aureole which is almost white and fringed with yellows and reds. Sometimes that is all to be seen but the better coronas have one or more successively fainter and gently coloured soft rings surrounding the aureole. The first ring is bluish on the inside grading through greens and yellows to red outermost. The colours are subtle mixtures rather than the more direct hues of the rainbow. The corona can be 15º or so in diameter and often it shrinks and swells as different clouds scud across the moon.

The coronae is much smaller than the 22° halo which can also ring the sun and moon. The corona also has nothing to do with the Sun's outer atmosphere visible during a total eclipse and confusingly given the same name.

Coronae are produced by the diffraction of light by tiny cloud droplets or sometimes small ice crystals.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

When I visited U. North Dakota this past April I happened to capture a weak aurora event. I was driving around late at night checking out the town when I realized the moon lit clouds weren't moonlit.

I crapped a brick when I realized what was going on (although I have seen the aurora a few times before) and rushed back to the hotel to grab my camera. To add to the scene, a distant thunderstorm was lit by lightning. Classic! I look forward to capturing more events in ND although we are going into a solar min again.

http://ww2.convectionconnection.com:8080/U...g_00087_nd2.htm
http://ww2.convectionconnection.com:8080/U...g_00089_nd2.htm

Aaron

 

[Eric Flescher]

latest spaceweather.com
7/31/2006
CREPUSCULAR RAYS: "Seeing a sunset like this reminds me how good it is to be alive," says photographer Andy Skinner of Mariposa, California:

It must be the crepuscular rays. Commonly seen at sunset, these are dark shadows cast from the ragged edges of clouds. Immense tubes of darkness lance across the sky, impossible to ignore. Look for them this evening and see how they make you feel.