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30 September 2016
Historic Rainfall Event in Maryland and Delaware
In my last post, I wrote about the possibility of a severe flood/rain event in Eastern Virginia/Delaware/Maryland. Unfortunately my forecast was correct, and in short, it’s still raining. The town of Harbeson Delaware had over a foot of rain in 24 hours! Schools were closed, roads washed out, and many other closed. I mentioned yesterday that the water temps in the Atlantic are at record levels, and it’s hard to …
13 September 2016
The Colors You Can Get from Sunlight and Air/Water Molecules
I have a rule about great sunsets, which I want to pass on to my fellow sunset fanatics. The most colorful sunsets happen when you have ALL of the ingredients below: 1. A dewpoint below 60. (Below 50 is better) 2. Cirrus in the western sky. 3. Cirrcocumulus in the western sky. 4. Altocumulus and some altostratus in the western sky. 5. Few low level clouds, but some scattered about …
19 August 2011
Supercell Thunderstorm East of Brussels Kills 4
The red arrow is pointing at the overshooting top on the thunderstorm, indicating a very strong updraft. The BBC says 4 were killed when a stage collapsed at a music festival. Surface weather obs (from just before the storm developed) indicated temps near 27℃ (80℉) and dew-points near 18℃ (64℉). A surface front was moving into Belgium as a strong upper level trough pushed through the UK, and this set the stage …
23 May 2011
Different Volcano, Same Problem- Ash cloud delays flights in Europe.
The NASA Terra Satellite passed over Iceland and grabbed this shot today, ( in true colour) showing the ash cloud from an erupting Iceland volcano. Click the image for a much higher res. view. The UK Met Office has just released a new ash advisory, and airlines have canceled flights into Scotland for Tuesday. I’m headed to Manchester UK myself on Thursday, so I’ll be watching this closely. The latest …
24 April 2011
Where The Wind Comes Right behind The Rain (but, not without warning!)
I am back home in Oklahoma this weekend for a climate change seminar at my alma mater, the University of Oklahoma. I graduated from OU in 1981 and it has changed dramatically. OU is now the world’s premiere school for studying the atmospheric sciences and the seminar was in the new National Weather Center that houses the NOAA Storm Prediction Center, (They are responsible for issuing tornado watches nationwide) along …
12 April 2011
Double Rainbow and Alexander’s Dark Band
We had some nice storms rumble through North Alabama this evening and, just at sunset, the storms passed Huntsville. I expected to receive some rainbow pics and I was not disappointed! A double rainbow is reversed, of course, from the primary but in between the sky will look a little darker. You can see it clearly in the picture on the right. This was first described by Alexander of Aphrodisias …
10 April 2011
Weekend Climate Tid Bits
It’s been an interesting week or so in the climate science arena with papers on climate change in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters and Nature. Then there’s that study put together by Dr. Richard Muller to “check” the temperature rise that NOAA/NASA and the Hadley Centre (UK Met. Office) have reported. If you’re still in the rapidly dwindling group of those who think we are not facing a very …
26 February 2011
Yes, People are Breathing This-Smog over China
It’s called the ABC. The Asian Brown Cloud. The air pollution from cooking fires, coal fired power plants, and gasoline/diesel engines are the cause. This air pollution is measurable across the Pacific and into the West Coast of the U.S. Air pollution (from different areas of the world) has its own unique signature. A recent study indicated that about 30% of San Francisco’s particulate levels are from China.
24 November 2010
More Chimneys (See Magma Cum Laude) and a Diamond Dust Pilar
Magma Cum Laude has a great post with a shot of the “chimneys” in Upstate New York. Here is mine. This chimney is in Banff Nat. Park, just outside of Banff, Alberta. A few days later I saw this. The photo was taken at 4,000 meters, on top of Telescope Mountain, above Banff. It was very cold (-25C) and the air was very dry. Tiny ice crystals in the air …
18 October 2010
Great Poster for Teachers
Found this online today and it’s a must for Earth Science teachers everywhere. This is definitely my longest post ever! Okay so click on it and download the full size image and then get a poster made! kudos to Karl Tate at OurAmazingPlanet.com
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.