You are browsing the archive for 4 December 2014 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.
4 December 2014
Hole Punch Clouds Over Maryland (Updated with new info.)
This “Hole Punch Cloud” was spotted over Somerset County Maryland today, and the technical name meteorologists use is “Fall Streak Hole”. They are rather rare, and happen when super-cooled water in a cloud suddenly freezes. The freezing can be started by the introduction of some ice crystals and then the super-cooled water freezes, and falls out as ice crystals. Liquid water at temperatures well below freezing is actually fairly common …
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.