I've Been Thunderstruck

I have created a new website aimed at showing people the best locations to take lightning and storm pictures. It’s called Lightning Shot Spots and I just launched it today! So far it’s a bare bones site while I work to collect location data (provided by users like you!), but I have plans to develop it into a world class storm photography resources. So, head over, take a look, and please contribute a location if you have one. Thanks!

So, not the best picture in the world, but I was able to catch some growing mamatus clouds this morning on my way to work. I had to use my iPhone camera to take the pic. I love how these clouds look!

Mamatus Clouds in Tucson, AZ

I know it’s not a pure weather-related picture, but with it winter ending, and spring starting over the weekend, I thought it would be nice to share some pretty flowers! I took this picture at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in 2008. During that festival, there are rows and rows of absolutely amazing and brilliantly colored flowers. It’s been a few years since we’ve been to the festival, and I miss it a lot. Happy Spring!

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, 2008. Happy Spring!

This is a shot that I took from my roof in July 2009. Tucson sees some pretty nice thunderstorms during the monsoons of summer, and I try to get out and capture lightning shots whenever possible. This storm snuck up on me, so I really only had time to get on my roof before the rains came.

Summer Lightning, Tucson 2009

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

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!

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!

The monsoons have arrived in Southern Arizona, and I’m loving every drop of rain, every bolt of lighting and clap of thunder. We have had some AWESOME storms so far! I’m out trying to take some decent lighting pictures…you can check out the latest pics here (proudly hosted at SmugMug!).

As a novice storm chaser, I’ve been learning a lot about what it takes to actually form a thunderstorm each day. Fortunately, some local weather forecasters (ErinJordanKOLD, PickeringKOLD and ChuckGeorgeKOLD) have been providing daily storm updates on Twitter, and have parsed out some science knowledge at the same time. One of the things they constantly mention, and which is an important component of thunderstorm formation, is dew point.

According to Wikipedia, “dew point is the temperature to which a given parcel of air must be cooled, at constant barometric pressure, for water vapor to condense into water (all links courtesty of copying from Wikipedia).” Dew point is also associated with relative humidity, in that a high relative humidity indicates that the dew point is closer to the current air temperative. As noted above, dew point is given in degrees (for instance the current dew point temperature in Tucson is 51F). A relative humidity of 100% means that the dew point temperature (temp at which dew forms) is equal to the current temperature, and that the air is maximally saturated with water (can hold no more water, and thus condenses).

Dew point is important for reasons other than storm formation. The higher the dew point, the more uncomfortable it feels outside. In periods of high relative humidity and high dew points, the ability for sweat to evaporate from the body decreases, which reduces the cooling effect related to sweating. That tends to make us hotter, and makes being outside a bit more dangerous.

That’s all good info, but I really wanted to know how dew point influences thunderstorm formation, because I simply love those storms! With an estimated 40,000 thunderstorms occurring world-wide on any given day, and the high occurrence of such storms in areas where factors influence dew point, there must be a correlation, and a direct one at that.

Turns out that dew point plays a great role in thunderstorm formation. There are three factors – moisture, instability, and a lifting mechanism – that contribute to thunderstorm formation. Typically in the Southwest United States (Arizona in specific), dew point levels are very low…in the teens or lower. But each summer a shift in air flow occurs, drawing moisture up from Mexico. That infusion of moisture into the atmosphere leads to higher dew points, and when they have reached the mid-50s for three consecutive days, then the monsoon has officially begun!

Dew point is essentially the low level moisture that actually fuels thunderstorm development. Severe thunderstorms are more likely to occur when the dew point is 55F or higher, providing more potential fuel for the storm as the dew point increases. There are other moisture factors as well, which change in significance as you move higher in the atmosphere. But, for purposes of this discussion, it’s the low level stuff that counts.

So, there you have it. The more moisture in the lower levels, the higher the dew point, the greater the chances of a thunderstorm developing!