Ultimate space simulation software

 
User avatar
midtskogen
Star Engineer
Star Engineer
Topic Author
Posts: 1537
Joined: 11 Dec 2016 12:57
Location: Oslo, Norway
Contact:

Unusual weather

08 Mar 2021 07:52

Lightning in heavy snow has a pretty special sound.  Just a short "boom", then silence.  No rumble, no echo.  Or just the flash, no sound at all even if the lightning was just a few km away.  Snow is a good absorber of sound!
NIL DIFFICILE VOLENTI
 
User avatar
Watsisname
Science Officer
Science Officer
Posts: 2318
Joined: 06 Sep 2016 02:33
Location: Bellingham, WA

Unusual weather

08 Mar 2021 11:57

Wow that sounds dangerous, did you have to shelter in place, Wat?  4 inches per hour is something I wouldn't want to be caught outside in!
It was fine. I was back in my car and starting to drive down before conditions got too bad. Of course, the biggest concerns would be getting caught outside in lightning, or having an accident on the drive out. But the road is quite well maintained, and chains help a lot. 

4 inches per hour does add up fast, though. I don't mind being out in such a snowfall, just be prepared to dig the vehicle out. :)
Lightning in heavy snow has a pretty special sound.  Just a short "boom", then silence.  No rumble, no echo.
Yes, the sound is amazing! There's an eerie and slightly apocalyptic feel to it.
 
A-L-E-X
Galaxy Architect
Galaxy Architect
Posts: 3498
Joined: 06 Mar 2017 20:19

Unusual weather

10 Mar 2021 03:30

Yes, I think the heavy snow muffles the sound of the lightning?!  Every time I hear it I get both excited and surprised.  Excited because I know it means that a big outburst of snow is to follow and surprised because that sound always surprises me because I just haven't heard anything like that ever before.  I've heard thunder rain, thunder freezing rain, thunder sleet.....but nothing is like thunder snow!  And those heavy snowfall rates make for some of the most photogenic moments that weather has to offer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2 ... nt_reviews

The super el nino storm of January 2016 a true blizzard was the last time I witnessed this, over 30 inches of snow fell here in 24 hours
 
User avatar
Watsisname
Science Officer
Science Officer
Posts: 2318
Joined: 06 Sep 2016 02:33
Location: Bellingham, WA

Unusual weather

15 May 2021 20:35

Caught another ice halo display the other day. Nowhere near as good as the pyramidal crystal display here last summer, but this is probably the best so far this year.
► Show Spoiler
 
User avatar
Charlotte Bridge
Observer
Observer
Posts: 14
Joined: 01 Jun 2021 04:07
Location: San-Jose
Contact:

Unusual weather

11 Jun 2021 02:17

Caught another ice halo display the other day. Nowhere near as good as the pyramidal crystal display here last summer, but this is probably the best so far this year.
► Show Spoiler
Really amazing spectacle! I also watched it once, of course it is better to see in in your own eyes. Also I saw triple rainbow last year, I will try to find pictures I made and add here 8-)
“Across the sea of space, the stars are other suns.”
― Carl Sagan
 
User avatar
Watsisname
Science Officer
Science Officer
Posts: 2318
Joined: 06 Sep 2016 02:33
Location: Bellingham, WA

Unusual weather

26 Jun 2021 02:08

Here it comes... a sure to be record-setting heatwave for the Pacific Northwest. Seattle will be hotter than Miami and could reach 104F (40C). The rate of snowmelt in the mountains is already getting crazy from the combination of heat and sunshine. Not to mention how this will exacerbate an already insane drought.

Image
 
A-L-E-X
Galaxy Architect
Galaxy Architect
Posts: 3498
Joined: 06 Mar 2017 20:19

Unusual weather

26 Jun 2021 02:19

Wat, I heard this is completely unprecedented- it could hit 110 in Seattle and 120 in Portland?!  Even the ocean beaches could hit 100!  Wow, this truly feels like something that could never have happened in a nonanthropogenic climate!

Is it hot enough for birds to fall out of the sky?  I have been reading that extreme heat of this type can cause massive die offs.
 
User avatar
Watsisname
Science Officer
Science Officer
Posts: 2318
Joined: 06 Sep 2016 02:33
Location: Bellingham, WA

Unusual weather

26 Jun 2021 02:49

it could hit 110 in Seattle and 120 in Portland?! 
That sounds a few degrees higher than most model forecasts (after adjustment for their biases), but we'll see. The models are in substantial agreement that it will be record-setting heat, regardless of what the exact numbers end up being.

In a typical summer we generally get to the 80s and sometimes low 90s away from the water. Near the water it's always cooler, usually 70s. Having mid 90s along the water is crazy. Having mid 100s along the I-5 corridor is ridiculous.
Is it hot enough for birds to fall out of the sky?  I have been reading that extreme heat of this type can cause massive die offs.
No, at least not for that reason. The heat doesn't generally kill birds directly. Rather, the extreme ocean temperatures kill the fish that marine birds prey on, so the birds starve and then their bodies wash ashore.
 
A-L-E-X
Galaxy Architect
Galaxy Architect
Posts: 3498
Joined: 06 Mar 2017 20:19

Unusual weather

26 Jun 2021 03:32

I was wondering about that too, especially because the projections seem to have gone up a few degrees since the first forecasts for this extreme heat came out about a week ago.  At first, the forecasts for Seattle were for it to get a couple degrees above 100, and now I'm seeing 105-109 forecasts for Sunday and Monday.  The all time record there is 103 in 2009.  Likewise for Portland, the original forecasts I saw about a week ago were for 105-107 heat and now I'm seeing 115-117.  It would be astonishing for those locations to get that hot, as I expected those kinds of temps to only be found in the SW.  Neither is right at the water like JFK is, (I live 4 miles from JFK), but it's comparable to the 103 recorded here in July 2011.  I saw that some of the beach locations could also reach 100, which is quite the feat with a water temperature at 60 or under.  When we reached 103 here in July 2011 the water temp was near 80!

I never expected Seattle to have a temperature higher than NYC has ever recorded (record 106 from 1936 for Central Park, 107 from 1966 at LGA and 104 at JFK from 1966).

A big problem is only about a third of Seattle residents have a/c (70% of Portland residents have it.)
 
A-L-E-X
Galaxy Architect
Galaxy Architect
Posts: 3498
Joined: 06 Mar 2017 20:19

Unusual weather

26 Jun 2021 10:28

Watched Weather Channel this morning and the new projections for Monday are Seattle 111 and Portland 117.  That's astounding.  It would beat Seattle's daily record for that date by a full 20 degrees and the all time record by 8 degrees.
 
User avatar
Watsisname
Science Officer
Science Officer
Posts: 2318
Joined: 06 Sep 2016 02:33
Location: Bellingham, WA

Unusual weather

27 Jun 2021 03:30

Looking at the most recent high res forecast models for Monday. I'm kind of speechless. The overnight temperature right now is already like a normal daily high. Tomorrow will be hotter. Monday will be out of this world. In fact, it will be hotter in Portland than about 99.8% of the world.

Image


Many people are asking or talking about the role of global warming. It absolutely does contribute, but there's more to it than that. Global warming makes high temperature events more likely (and it especially increases the overnight lows), but the most extreme temperature events require a perfect combination of factors. 

In this case, what we're experiencing could be more accurately called a Foehn wind. Normally the temperatures along the west coast are moderated by westerly winds off of the Pacific. But soon we'll be getting southeasterly winds passing over the Cascades. You can see this from the direction of the windbarbs in the above image. Not only does this bring in the hot airmass that was already in place from the more desert-like interior, but as the air descends the west side of the mountains it heats up even further. At the dry adiabatic lapse rate, descending the Cascades can heat the air by an additional 10F or more. That's how we get temps over 110F in western Washington and Oregon. This kind of airmass movement on top of such a prolonged period of dry and sunny weather is a perfect storm.
 
A-L-E-X
Galaxy Architect
Galaxy Architect
Posts: 3498
Joined: 06 Mar 2017 20:19

Unusual weather

27 Jun 2021 11:15

Wat it was 102 in Seattle yesterday!  They are running ahead of guidance and the forecasts I looked at predicted 107 for today and 112 for Monday!  That would be like NYC being near 120!

Someone asked me why and how Seattle could be hotter than Houston.  Three factors, dry heat heats up faster, the drought makes the air heat up more quickly and downsloping winds compress and heat up more also as well as making it drier.  That being said I love dry heat and cant stand humid heat, which makes it hard to breathe and results in poor air quality.  Water vapor is a form of air pollution as far as I'm concerned.

Also, it looks like the immediate beaches will also hit 100 on Monday- that's incredible!
 
User avatar
midtskogen
Star Engineer
Star Engineer
Topic Author
Posts: 1537
Joined: 11 Dec 2016 12:57
Location: Oslo, Norway
Contact:

Unusual weather

28 Jun 2021 04:02

Today's global anomaly map looks like this:
x.png
NIL DIFFICILE VOLENTI
 
A-L-E-X
Galaxy Architect
Galaxy Architect
Posts: 3498
Joined: 06 Mar 2017 20:19

Unusual weather

30 Jun 2021 12:32

This is astonishing!  Is this 120+ F/ 50+ C temp the farthest north that 120F/50C temps have ever been recorded?

One thing to note is that 2021 is part of an 11 yr cycle of extremely hot summers.....I've noted this in NYC too and across much of the CONUS.....our hottest summers repeat in 11 yr cycles..... 1944, 1955, 1966, 1977, 1988, 1999, 2010 (our previous hottest summer on record), 2021 is up next.....



Here are the annual maximums at Lytton (RCS), BC:

2006 42.1
2007 40.8
2008 40.4
2009 40.6
2010 38.3
2011 35.5
2012 40.3
2013 40.5
2014 41.1
2015 40.2
2016 38.5
2017 40.1
2018 41.4
2019 37.7
2020 41.4
2021 49.6
 
A-L-E-X
Galaxy Architect
Galaxy Architect
Posts: 3498
Joined: 06 Mar 2017 20:19

Unusual weather

01 Jul 2021 04:57

That place that hit 50C in Canada is now on fire.....

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british- ... -1.6085919

Meanwhile 50 dead in Portland from the excessive heat

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests