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3 August 2014
You Don’t Have To Be A Meteorologist To Appreciate Clouds
Broadcast meteorologists frequently get calls from people when there is a solar halo or sun dog in the sky, and I have to tell you we are always shocked when people tell us that they “have never seen that before!” I cannot imagine how someone can live 40 or 50 years, and never have noticed such basic atmospheric optics. I can shock you even more, because it’s not uncommon to …
6 April 2014
Wave Clouds, Contrails, and Sahara Dust
What causes this? Very good website about it here: It was a bit chilly with an onshore sea-breeze, but sparkling early spring sunshine in spite of it being 10° C. I got a decent pic of the Ocean City pier that was damaged by a February nor’easter. Also notice the Jet contrails over the Eastern Mediterranean today. This image from the NASA Terra satellite about 600km up. Dust blowing off …
15 May 2013
Circumscribed Halo over Ocean City In Maryland On Tuesday
Correction: Hat tip to Daniel Linek who spotted my mistake. This is a CIRCUMSCRIBED Halo. Not a Circumzenithal Arc . See here: http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/circum.htm The title to this post has also been corrected. You can read more about this on the great Atmospheric Optics site: http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/cza.htm I saw one in Greenland (and at the South Pole for a few seconds). The bottom band I believe is a circumhorizon arc.
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.