Meteorology

[serce2]

Surprisingly, I couldn't find any weather discussion thread in this forum. It's the perfect small talk topic.

 

So, meteorology, atmospheric science, the study of the atmosphere and all that occurs in it. What's the weather like where you're at? What's a cool or curious weather thing you've seen?

 

As for myself, I'm studying meteorology and am an occasional storm chaser. Linked is my photo of a dusty supercell thunderstorm chase in Western Texas earlier this year.

 

There was a tornado associated with this storm, but I didn't see it. The storm was sucking up too much dust, obscuring view of tornadoes, and all of the chasers that did see it clearly were in a dangerous position northeast of the tornado, right next to heavy hail.

[Astreya]

I'm living in a city that seems to be in something I like to call a "weather hole". Whenever there are thunderstorms, hail, torrential rains or an Orkan*, then all the neighbouring town (15-20km away) experience right this, while here things are much, much less intense. I really wonder why this is the case as we aren't located in any special valley, and there are no hills or anything surround us that would explain such a thing.

 

Here's the weather right now at my place: https://www.wetter.de/deutschland/wetter-oberhausen-18220617.html

 

*) LEO gives "hurricane" or "winter storm/gale" as translation, but somehow that doesn't feel right as "Orkan" simply can be used for winds beyond 118km/h. Ah, I just noticed that the English version of the Wikipedia "Orkan" page says "European Windstorm", which makes much more sense than the LEO translation.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Astreya

[animatedrose]

We have a similar thing here as Astreya. We call it the B(town name) Bubble, because most heavier storm weather tends to break up or go around my town up here in Minnesota. It's interesting but also frustrating when we need rain and it just...skips us.

[Lagie]

We've had two tornadoes in the past two weeks, which we never get. One was technically a wide waterspout but it hit land after spinning a while in the harbour here. The other flipped one car, and damaged a few others along with some houses.

[Astreya]

While it's not as hot here as in other areas, for me temperatures over 30°C are already brutal. And right at the moment the felt temperature is 6°C above the "real" temperature, so I'm currently starting to melt away...

 

Here:

 

 

Edited June 23, 2022 by Astreya

[casprrr]

I have been interested in meteorology since junior high school (that was many years ago). I am still fascinated by weather and became a trained spotter for the National Weather Service some years ago. I was in Iowa City, IA (USA) for my Thursday night bowling league on April 13, 2006, when the city was hit by a strong F2 tornado which passed less than a mile north of the lanes. My car sustained a few dings from the large hail that fell during the storm, but the things that stand out most to me about that night was seeing the funnel, now nearing downtown (having passed us), and the constant lightning. Seems that at any given instant, there was a flash somewhere in the sky, it was a very surreal experience.

 

The summer floods of '93 is another weather event that stands out as I had just purchased a mobile home in an Iowa City trailer court which backs to the Iowa River, and with the help of my sister and parents, moved into it on July 4th weekend from an apartment which was also managed by the trailer court owner. I was flooded out of the trailer on July 5th, moving back to the apartment I had just vacated. The manager allowed me to continue to rent the apartment on a month-by-month basis until the floodwaters receded in late August or early September.

 

The midwest derecho of August 10, 2020, is another major weather event that I vividly remember, sheltering at work as the storm raged for nearly an hour, much longer than most severe thunderstorms I've experienced.

Blizzards, thunderstorms, floods, tornadoes... one thing about living in the midwestern U.S. is that you're likely to experience at least one of these every year. Maybe not directly, but there's likely to be one of these not too far away.

Edited June 30, 2022 by casprrr
typo

[StormBirdRising]

We have had some really strange and unpredictable weather in Southern California.  Last week after several days of triple digit heat there was a lighting and thunder storm which happens sometimes in really high heat.  But then rain pounded down for about ten minutes.  It was such a strong rain that it flooded some backyards and streets, in only ten minutes.  I called the weather bureau and they told me that New Mexico was seeding clouds with silver nitrate to produce rain,  but beyond that they had no information.  😮 Very strange.