Meteorology 302.01, Spring 2004
Class Notes for April 14, 2004

 

Christina Bolaris

Jacki Dick

 

Assignments:

Reading:

Instability Website

Second Half of Divergence Website (Dynamic Lows)

Williams: Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8

Zebrowski: Chapters 5 pp. 131-135 (completes our reading of Chapter 5); Chapter 8 251-262 (completes Chapter 8); Chapter 9, pp. 263-266; 272-278 (completes our reading of Chapter 9)

Note: Moira Dumo, Pacifico Garcia, Edna Gee, Crystal Lee, Alex Tungadi, and Ethlebert Wiltshire---I have no record of Writing Assignment I being received by me and no grade recorded. Please see me.

Housekeeping:

Will finish up with hurricanes and watch a movie rapping up what we have learned regarding hurricanes.

 

Definitions:

Convective Storms

            Rainstorms that produce flooding such as the weather we experienced last month are called convective storms.

 

Hail

            All cumulus nimbus clouds are related to hail. Severe hail is any that exceed ¾ of an inch (in the cloud not the ground.) When there is hail there are also severe thunderstorm warnings.

 

Mesocyclone

Meso= small in diameter

Cyclone= counter clock wise rotation

 

Hurricane review:

            The indicators that are given to describe the severity of a storm are dots. A fully open dot means that the hurricane is Tropical Depression; a partially enclosed circle means that itŐs a Tropical Storm, and a darkened circle means itŐs a Typhoon.

            Tropical hurricanes in the western Pacific usually have an easterly track theyŐre expected to weaken to a tropical storm because the ocean warms and the hurricane never achieves more than 140 knots.

Hurricane Dennis:

Website

Http://www.wsicorp.com

This Website describes Hurricane DennisŐ radar review. Keep in mind if the Website says, N/A that means that the information was not available and if the Website says, O/M the site is down for maintenance. The three digit numbers on these charts are not only important to meteorologists but also to pilots. The number refers to the top of the rain areas. The pilots have the choice when given the number to either avoid the area completely or turn the plane around for the safety of all involved. Keep in mind that the number of the cloud top doesnŐt include how much further the cloud does really extend. The arrows on these charts indicate the direction and the speed of the thunderstorm.

Tracking storms:

The Carolinas bears the brunt of many storms because they fall right into the track of storms that make an easterly turn. This not only causes damage but stress to all of the people affected.

Looked at: Sea Surface temperatures, satellite pictures, and history of the story

Looked at the forecast rainfall. A lot of rain occurs when passing over land creating storm surges. The storm lifts up the water to create a monster storm surge.

Ending remarks:

Will start the movie on hurricanes. Other links will be posted in the past topics because we are done with hurricanes.

 

Watched movie:

The movie is from the discovery channel under Raging Plant series. Has great photographs but very dramatic on the music making is seem that a monster is going to sneak out. But this movie is a great visional for seeing what damage a hurricane and a storm surge can bring.

 

 

 

Movie Notes

Discovery Channel: Raging Planet

Hurricanes cause overwhelming destructive power each day. TheyŐre can be more powerful than 8,000 mega ton hydrogen bombs, 1,000 feet across. In 1953 hurricanes started to be named. Camille held the fastest hurricane winds ever recorded. The greatest killer in the hurricane is the water and surprisingly not the winds involved. 90% die from drowning. Japan is hit by 2 typhoons each year. Australia has cyclones, which rotate clockwise around the eye. India and Bangladesh also all their version cyclones (all with the same meaning as a hurricane). Bangladesh is a densely populated area that is flat and the heavy rains from cyclones cause floods.