Today I'll be talking about events related to the weather. I'll let you in on a little conspiracy theory of mine; hurricane Sandy was caused not by the government, but by the weather! Crazy right? ;)
Anyways, I'll be discussing four weather events and their causes. Don't worry, I won't bother with specific instances, I'll just be general so you can actually acquire useful knowledge from this blog for once. ;)
Anyways, I'll be discussing four weather events and their causes. Don't worry, I won't bother with specific instances, I'll just be general so you can actually acquire useful knowledge from this blog for once. ;)
First, I'll talk about my arch-nemesis (and occasional ally, depending on the capitalization): Blizzards. Blizzards are defined as "Severe snowstorms with high winds and low visibility." You can see a picture of a blizzard on the left. (I think that's me delivering my paper route yesterday...) As you can see, the conditions that characterize a blizzard are not very pleasant. Snowstorms are categorized as a blizzard when the speed of the wind is equal to or exceeds 56 km/h and the visibility is reduced to 400 meters or less. They are caused by a warm front colliding with a cold front (more on those later). This causes a low-pressure zone, which as all pilots and air cadets know, equals really really bad weather. (let's add a little more really really's...) The snow will be added when the low pressure zone passes over a body of water. A low pressure area creates a lot of high-powered winds. The lower the pressure, the higher the winds. Blizzards should be avoided out of a natural interest in remaining comfortable; but when one is happening on a highway, or any place where one would travel, that place should be avoided at all costs. Blizzards reduce the visibility to near zero, greatly increasing the risks of an accident. They also create slippery roads and gusts of winds that can affect your vehicle. All in all, a blizzard is weather to be avoided (or a snack to be attacked :D)
Second part of your force fed diet of weather knowledge; tornadoes. Feeling like you're not in Kansas anymore? Anyways tornadoes are really cool. They can can reach wind speeds of up to 482 km/h and can be 3.2 kilometres across and stay on the ground for more than 100 kilometres. Whoa! I'd hate to be caught up in something like that! Thankfully, tornadoes normally don't get any bigger than 76 metres across and any faster than 177 km/h. That's still pretty insane though. I haven't ever gone faster than 150 km/h my whole life! Tornadoes are defined as "a violently rotating column of air, in contact with the ground, either attached to a cumuliform cloud or underneath a cumuliform cloud, and often (but not always) visible as a funnel cloud". They are formed from a supercell storm when falling rain drags a large amount of air with it. which in turn drags a mesocyclone down to the earth. A mesocyclone is a mass of rotating air within a supercell.
Third weather event: Thunderstorms. These are my favourite. The sound of the rain and the thunder outside at night while you're inside listening... Anyways, thunderstorms are defined as "transient storms of lightning and thunder, usually with rain and gusty winds, sometimes with hail or snow, produced by cumulonimbus clouds". These storms are caused by rapid updrafts of warm moist air. If a thunder storm grows big enough it can turn into a supercell and cause a tornado. Cumulonimbus clouds are the types of clouds that characterize thunderstorms. They are big, tall, dark anvil shaped clouds. They can rise to over 20 km where their top is flattened making it look like an anvil due to high winds at that height. To a pilot, these clouds are bad news. Plain and simple. You see one, you go the completely opposite direction. Although these storms are the prettiest, they are also very dangerous. Not only are they dangerous to planes, but also to vehicles and humans. My Dad was driving to Caronport from Moose Jaw and our minivan was hit by a lightening strike. Completely fried the electronics and we had to get a new minivan. People have also been hit by lightening. So, if you are ever caught outside in the middle of one of these, then get to shelter fast! Unless, of course, you purposely chose to be outside in the middle of a thunderstorm, then I would assume that you have taken appropriate measures to protect yourself from lightening strikes.
The fourth and final event is the mysterious fog. Fog is actually pretty neat. It's definition isn't nearly as mysterious as it looks; "fog is a collection of liquid water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface". However, its definition is exactly what it is. Fog is just semi-frozen water hanging just above the surface. Basically, its a low-lying stratus cloud. It isn't created the same way a cloud would be though. Fog is generally formed from local water supplies, such as a nearby lake or ocean. It is formed when the temperature of the surrounding area and the dew point (temperature at which dew is formed) are less than 2.5°C apart. So, even though it looks the coolest out of the discussed weather events, it is the simplest to explain.
Anyways, thus concludes my Weather Related Events blog post. Check back for the next post: Wacky Weather!
Anyways, thus concludes my Weather Related Events blog post. Check back for the next post: Wacky Weather!