From NOAA EVL – Satellite Captures Rare Cloud Rotation in the Desert

This small low pressure system is bringing rain to the area around Twentynine Palms, CA. The remnants of a storm that developed over the Gulf of California, the low has taken on an anticyclonic rotation as it moves north northwest. This image was taken by GOES East at 1715Z on July 6, 2011.

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This natural-color image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows the thick, brown ash plume from the June 4, 2011 eruption of the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcano Complex in Chile. The plume is easily identified as it towers over the bright white clouds in this scene.

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC

Title: Supercell Thunderstorm. Submitted by: Glenn A. Marsch, Prof. Physics, Grove City College

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Place: Slippery Rock, PA 16057 Date and Time: 5/23/11 7:52 PM. Photographic Parameters: f/5.6, Shutter 3 s, ISO 80

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Name and Title of Photographer: Glenn A. Marsch, Prof. Physics, Grove City College

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Place: Redington Beach, FL. Date and Time: May 4, 2011, 6:54 PM EST Photographic Parameters: Sony DSC-H50 camera; f/5.6; shutter open 1/80 s, ISO-80 Title of Image: Sunset from Our Balcony Discription of Image: I like to reflect that a sunset represents rare beauty in an everyday event.

Summer thunderstorms in west central Florida are an every day event. However nighttime storms, after the sun’s energy is removed to power them, are rare.

With a blocking high pressure area over the Gulf of Mexico recently, the East to West winds that normally blow over Florida during the summer were absent – giving a dry period. The removal of this high, and the heavily laden moist air resulted in this beautiful nighttime fireworks treat.

Image by Ron Dean

A park worker measures a 22-foot snowdrift in May near the bus terminus for Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. (Rocky Mountain National Park)

Dramatic footage filmed from a helicopter by Australia’s Channel 7 shows a series of powerful waterspouts near the coastal suburb of Terrigal, on Australia’s New South Wales coast. Several powerful columns of swirling air could be seen blasting along the water’s surface near the coastline. Channel 7 claimed the spouts reached heights of up to 600 metres (nearly two thousand feet), but dissipated as they neared land. The natural wonders came as strong winds and heavy rain also lashed other parts of the state, causing flash flooding and traffic chaos in Sydney. Watch video:

Weakening of La Niña but Above Normal Hurricane Season is Predicted

Last week, NOAA issued the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook, which predicts an above-normal year for activity. Though the La Niña continues to weaken in the Pacific, it will continue to effect weather patterns and influence the number of storms that are predicted. During La Niña years, wind shear is reduced in the Tropical Atlantic, creating conditions that are ideal for tropical cyclone formation. This image shows how the sea surface temperatures have changed, on average, from mid-April to mid-May. A warming signature is clearly visible as indicated by the red areas in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific region, an indication of La Niña’s waning strength. Also related to the Atlantic Hurricane Season, warming trends are visible in the Caribbean and Eastern Gulf of Mexico.

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When the weather conditions are right the Black Forest in southern Germany can turn into a thunderstorm factory. This picture shows three cells in various stages of development, all matured into thunderstorms over the rest of the day. The view is taken from just across the border in northern Switzerland.  Image by Neil Jones.

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Cumulus clouds in late afternoon., Rhode Island  Image by Gary Boden

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