I've Been Thunderstruck

At this particular moment, I have a total of 10 weather related apps on my iPhone. All but a couple of them are very good, and I figured other people might be interested in benefiting from my purchases! Having an iPhone that can run weather apps is a huge bonus for me. I love weather data, and being able to whip out my phone and check the local radar is very exciting…especially during the summer monsoon months, when I want to know where the next thunderstorm will hit. As more weather apps are developed for the iPhone, I’m sure I’ll purchase those as well. That being said, let’s start with a review of WeatherBug Elite.

Clicking on the WeatherBug Elite icon on your iPhone will launch the following splash screen:

WeatherBug Elite Splash Screen

As soon as the data is loaded, you are presented with the main screen. From here, you’ll be given information about conditions in the default area you choose. For me, these are the conditions in Tucson, AZ. Current temperature, wind speed and direction, humidity and dew point are some of the data available. You also get a nice little graphic that indicates wind speed and direction. Below that is an indication of any active alerts, a synopsis of the current forecast, and buttons for other features at the bottom of the screen.

WeatherBug Elite Main Screen

Clicking on the forecast button gives you a synopsis of the coming days. You can get more detailed information for each part of the day – morning and evening – by clicking on the high and low temperature sections. Not only can you get the next seven days worth of forecasts, but you can also check out things on an hourly basis.

WeatherBug Elite Forecast Page

WeatherBug Elite Forecast Details

Now comes my absolute favorite part – data on maps! I spend a lot of time on this page when storms are in the area, and when I want to know how long until we get rain! WeatherBug Elite does an excellent job displaying data on maps provided by Microsoft Virtual Earth. In addition to the radar/satellite data, you can also get local conditions of a particular area by clicking on a pushpin already in the map, or by pushing and holding on an area you are interested in, placing a pushpin there, and then getting the local data. Unfortunately, WeatherBug Elite does not work in landscape mode, so you have to pinch/pull in order to get the area you want to look at. But, the data is awesome, and this is my favorite page!

WeatherBug Elite Maps

WeatherBug Elite provides you many different layers for your maps, including temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed, IR satellite, visible satellite, radar, tomorrow’s high temp and tomorrow’s low temp. You can adjust the opacity of the layers, and you can even remove all dropped pins with a single tap!

For those of you who like video weather reports, WeatherBug Elite has that as well. Click on the video button at the bottom, and you are presented with the latest WeatherCast from Rachel.

WeatherBug Elite WeatherCast

I’ll admit, I’ve never actually watched a WeatherCast, so I can’t yet comment on it.

Finally, on the last page, you can check out cameras for the areas you have set. I have seen up to three cameras for a particular area, and they are generally of pretty good quality. That depends largely, I suspect, on the area you live in. I think these are typically cameras that local weather forecasters use as well.

WeatherBug Elite Camera View

All in all, I believe WeatherBug Elite is fully worth the $0.99 I had to pay for it. I started with the free version of WeatherBug, which gives you essentially the same features, but includes ads. Spending nintey-nine cents to remove the adds, and get a few more features, seemed like a good investment to me.

If you have an iPhone, and like to stay up with the current weather, but require more information than just current temperature and high/low, then you can’t really go wrong with WeatherBug Elite. I’ve fond it to be stable, useful application, and became very quickly addicted to the maps feature. I don’t think you can go wrong by giving it a try!

Here is something to start your week with. I shot this in November 2008 from a friends house near Port Ludlow, WA. This is looking east across Puget Sound after a great rainstorm.

Picture of the Week - Puget Sound Rainbow

A couple days ago, as a storm was moving out of the area, we got some classic cirrus clouds in the upper atmosphere. These types of clouds are very high in the atmosphere, are traditionally thin with wispy strands, and can often herald the arrival of a storm (in this case they were remnants of a previous storm). Cirrus clouds like to live at levels above 26,000 feet (8000 meters), and are formed when water vapor freezes into ice crystals. The lack of moisture at such high altitudes is one of the reasons these clouds tend to present so thin and wispy.

Cirrus Clouds in Tucson, AZ

A lot of times in Tucson we see hair like filaments of ice crystals precipitating out of the clouds in the form of what’s called virga. These streaks often indicate the difference in the motion of air between the upper part of the cirrus cloud and the lower air below it. It appears as though rain is coming from the cloud, but it’s actually ice crystals, most of which evaporates before it hits the ground (especially in Arizona). On some days, cirrus cloud development is so extensive that they become virtually indistinguishable from one another, forming what’s called cirrostratus clouds.

Another type of cirrus cloud that you’re already very familiar with is the condensation trails, or contrails,  seen in the sky coming from planes. These trails are basically artificial clouds formed by the exhaust of aircraft engines. As the hot exhaust gases cool in the surrounding air they may precipitate a cloud of microscopic water droplets. If the air is cold enough, this trail will comprise tiny ice crystals. On some days, with a high level of air traffic, you can see contrails crisscrossing the sky, and these contrails often hang around for some time. It’s pretty neat!

Clouds are very cool, and an obviously integral part of weather. I intend to eventually go through all the various cloud types, hopefully using images I’ve shot with my camera. If you understand why a particular cloud type is in the area, you have a good idea of what sort of weather might be on the way.

I thought I’d start the week off with a picture that will have you yearning for summer! With all the bad weather around the country lately, it’s hard to keep in mind the beautiful days we have ahead of us. This picture was taken in July 2007, at Marina Park in Kirkland, WA. It was a truly beautiful day!

Sunset at Marina Park, Kirkland, WA

The other day I was driving home from work, and on the south side of the Catalina Mountains in Tucson, I saw these clouds:

Tucson Lenticular Clouds

Unfortunately, because I took the picture with my iPhone, the clouds are a bit hard to see. But, if you look closely at the clouds in the center of the image, you’ll notice that they’re rounded and somewhat “flying saucer” shaped. Here’s a better picture of the same type of clouds, that I took in Mt Shasta, CA:

Mt Shasta Lenticular Clouds

These types of clouds are called Lenticular clouds, and they are stationary, lens shaped clouds that form at high altitudes. Typically, these clouds form on the downwind side of a mountain where warm, moist air is flowing, creating a series of large-scale standing waves. If the temperature at the crest of the wave drops to the dew point, moisture in the air may condense to form lenticular clouds. As the moist air moves to the trough of the wave, if it’s warm enough, it may evaporate back to vapor. Under certain conditions, long strings of lenticular clouds can form near the crest of each successive wave, creating a formation known as a wave cloud. And, because these clouds have a characteristic lens appearance and smooth saucer-like shape, they are often mistaken for UFOs (or “visual cover” for UFOs).

The air in the area of lenticular clouds is great for gliders, who seek out and ride the updrafts associated with the standing waves, but not so great for pilots of powered aircraft who are concerned with the turbulence. “Wave lift” often found in areas with lenticular clouds is often so smooth and strong that gliders can sail to incredible heights and distances. In fact, the current gliding world records for both distance (over 3,000 km; 1,864 mi) and altitude (15,460 m; 50,721 ft) were set using such lift.

I’ve always loved how lenticular clouds look. In almost every trip past Mt Shasta in California, where I have been able to see the mountain, lenticular clouds are present. I’ve also noted them quite frequently on the top of Mt Rainier in Washington. They are very beautiful clouds, but you can rest assured there are no aliens hiding in them!

In my last post, I talked a bit about the National Weather Service, and how it contributes to predicting the chances of precipitation. We learned that they send up a radiosonde twice a day, from locations all over the country, to collect data about the atmosphere. Quite a bit of that data they post online for anybody to look at, and combined with other bits of data from things like satellites and ground observations, you can get an amazing picture of how things are shaping up in your area (or almost anywhere in the world!). Let’s take a look at a few of the things you can find online at the National Weather Service web site.

Current observations are an important part of determining what will happen with the weather. If you know how conditions are now, and how they have changed from the past, you can get a clue as to how they might be in the future. One tool that the NWS provides is a Surface Plot graph.

Surface Plot Chart

The official term for this is Mesonet Observations. According to wikipedia, “a mesonet is a network of automated weather stations designed to observe mesoscale meteorological phenomena. Dry lines, squall lines, and sea breezes are examples of phenomena that can be observed by mesonets. Due to the space and time scales associated with mesoscale phenomena, weather stations comprising a mesonet will be spaced closer together and report more frequently than synoptic scale observing networks, such as ASOS. The term mesonet refers to the collective group of these weather stations, and are typically owned and operated by a common entity.” So, basically, this is a series of stations that report current observations on wind speed and direction, temperature, relative humidity, and other items. If you know how to read these reports, and can spot trends, you can tell when a frontal system moves through, or when you might expect a thunderstorm. It’s good on the ground information.

One area at the NWS site that I spend a lot of time checking during stormy periods is the local weather radar image. This image gives me a great idea of where precipitation is occurring at the moment, and in what amounts and intensity. This is particularly valuable if you are going storm chasing, as you can see where the local thunderstorm cells are dumping their rain. It also provides a time-lapse ability, so you can see what direction the storm is moving. I enjoy watching the radar, especially when storms are headed my way.

Radar Image

Now, let’s say you’re interested in what the current forecast is for your region. The NWS is particularly good at providing that information, and does so in a wonderful graphical format. You can find out great things like temperature, wind speed and direction, dew point (handy in the summer for monsoon prediction), sky cover, precipitation, and more for up to the next week or so. This is very handy for planning activities, and the graphical format of the data is exceptional.

Graphical Forecast

Finally, though by no means even close to the end of the great things you can get from the NWS, is the Weather Story that they produce from time to time. In Tucson, I tend to see these when a weather event is on the way, and right after an event. Any significant change in the expected weather pattern also seems to generate a Weather Story. Essentially, these are a couple slides that show the basics of what’s going on in the area, and what to expect in the near future. I find them interesting because it’s a good synopsis of what’s going on. I don’t know if all major locations produce weather stories, but I suspect they do.

Weather Story

So, there you have it…some of the free products that you can get from the NWS. These items only touch on the rich repository of information that is the National Weather Service. If you are interested in weather, I encourage you to take some time and look around. You’ll find data on things that you didn’t even know they collected data on!

It’s raining outside in Tucson today, which leads me to think about what they mean when they say there is an X percent chance of participation. This morning, Weather Underground says there is an 80% chance of precipitation in Tucson. Does that mean 80% of the area will get rain? That it will rain 80% of the day?

I did some research, and the answer is pretty simple : out of 100 days where the weather conditions were exactly or similar to how they are today, it rained 80 times. Pretty simple!

The questions becomes, then, how do they get that data to make such a calculation? The answer lies with the National Weather Service. Each day the NWS releases several balloons into the atmosphere from locations across the country. Those balloons, called radiosondes, are released twice a day and the information they collect is radioed to the ground where it’s collected by the National Meteorological Center near Washington, D.C, where it’s processed by computer. All the information the radiosonde collected during its rise in the atmosphere – pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction, temperature – is fed into the computer and used, in conjunction with data from ground sources, to create a 3D model of the atmosphere. That model is evaluated against various laws of fluid mechanics to predict future conditions.

Chance of precipitation for 22 February 2010.

Unfortunately, given the nature of precipitation, these percentages are really just educated guesses based on previous conditions. The atmosphere is a very fluid and dynamic entity, and many things can trigger an unexpected change in conditions. A wet day can suddenly turn sunny, just like a sunny day can suddenly turn severe. Weather forecasters have a difficult job at best, and providing a chance of precipitation number is just one way that they can help you plan your day.

By the way…a 100% chance of rain does not mean that it’s raining right this moment (unless, perhaps, you live in the Pacific Northwest). Again, it simply means that out of 100 previous days where conditions have been similar to those today, it rained every time. And of course that begs the next question…what is rain? We’ll save that for a later post!

If you plan on following the weather seriously, you should bookmark the National Weather Service. Operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), the NWS web site provides you with detailed weather information for all of the United States. Of particular interest to those who love to track the weather are:

• Detailed warning information
• Forecast discussions
• Graphical forecasts
• Forecast discussions with a glossary to help you understand terms
• Radar
• Satellite
• Severe weather

There is tons more there, and it’s all worth a look. You can get local forecasts, with great discussions about them, for your local area. You can also monitor severe weather in the event that you’re looking to do some storm chasing. And, you can watch the satellite to see when that next rain or snowstorm will hit your area. The NWS site is a treasure trove of information for people like me who love the weather. Check it out, and I’m sure you’ll find it interesting as well!

I’ve been thinking about this blog recently, and decided to take it in a new direction. I’ve really wanted to do a blog about weather related subject, and while thinking about a blog name, I realized I already had the perfect one in “Thunderstruck!” So, starting in the very near future, you can expect this blog to be almost 100% weather related. I’ll focus both on weather basics, as well as severe weather subjects. I’m really hoping to go storm chasing in Tornado Alley this spring or summer, and expect to return back with tons of pictures like the one below (not taken by me).

I hope you like the new direction of this blog, and I look forward to and welcome your comments. Thanks for visiting “Ive Been Thunderstruck!”

An awesome looking supercell!

I recently had to take a defensive driving class online. One of the things they do to make sure you’re not skimming the material is to place random sentences in the text, and then quiz you on them later. Below is a list of those random bits of information that I was able to learn about, in addition to understanding how to be a better driver!

• A frog is a mechanical switching device on a railroad track.
• Bob Denver was a teacher before Gilligan’s Island.
• A car operates at maximum economy at speeds between 25 and 35 miles per hour.
• Half an ounce of gasoline is used to start the average automobile
• Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com was originally going to name his web venture Cadabra.
• The last twelve cylinder car produced in the United States was the 1948 Lincoln Continental.
• The student who designed the Nike swoosh logo was paid $35.00
• Honey is used as a center for golf balls and in antifreeze mixtures.
• Thermometers were once filled with brandy instead of mercury.
• The highest selling domain name is business.com for $7.5 million.
• White light is a mixture of every other color in the spectrum.
• The Concorde jet guzzles 300 gallons of fuel per hour while idling.
• The wing flaps of a Boeing 767 come from Italy.
• The household refrigerator was patented in 1899.
• Cross-dressing Corporal Max Klinger on the sitcom M*A*S*H wore size 10 pumps.
• Gray lenses in sunglasses best protect the eyes against the Sun’s rays.
• At age 14, Bill Gates formed a company that sold traffic counting systems.

I actually missed one question pertaining to these tidbits. They gave a list of colors, and which was not part of white. I believe the answer to be Black. Just as White is the reflection of all the colors combined, Black is the absorption of all the colors in the spectrum. But, I still managed to pass that lesson!