I hang my hat at Tumblr
Tornadogenesis—the formation of tornadoes—remains a topic of active research as there is relatively little direct experimental data, owing to the difficulty of prediction as well as measurement. Initially, a variation of wind speed at different altitudes in the atmosphere causes shearing, which can lead to the formation of a horizontal column of rotating air—a vortex line similar to a roll cloud. Beneath a developing storm, the updraft of warm local air can pull this vortex line upwards, creating vertical rotation in the cloud, thereby birthing a supercell. Supercells do not always spawn tornadoes, and the exact causes that result in tornadic or nontornadic supercells are not fully understood. However, the formation of tornadoes within the supercell seems dependent on the downdraft of cool air within the storm as well as stretching of the vortex line, which increases its rate of rotation. For more information, check out this explanatory video and some of the talks by Paul Markowski. (Thanks to mindscrib, aggieastronaut and others for their submissions related to this topic! Photo credits: P. Markowski and D. Zaras)
My dashboard has a whole new flavor now that I got my astrophysicist friend to join Tumblr.
This doesn’t explain how they got to Oz, but it’s still pretty great.
The Week That Wasn’t: Winter conversation, or, can we pretty please talk about anything else? (By Sarah Lazarovic)
Check out our full visual archive.
They say the Canadians have 874 words for “Snow.” And, apparently, they’re bored by every last one of them.
From lighthouse to ice house: Sunlight illuminates the ice-covered Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse in Ohio on Dec. 14. Waves that crashed into the lighthouse froze in subzero temperatures, coating the structure and its navigation lights in multiple layers of ice. (Lauren Jorgensen/U.S. Coast Guard via AP)
Today in Cold.
Mark Sudduth and Jesse Bass of Hurricanetrack.com set up an anemometer and other weather equipment on the Outer Banks of North Carolina Thursday. A Nightline crew is accompanying the team, which has monitored major hurricanes from the field for more than a decade, through the target zone as Hurricane Earl approaches. We’ll have some incredible shots from the front lines — watch tonight at 11:35 p.m. for the latest. And click HERE for full ABC News coverage of the storm.
Today in service-y on Tumblr.
