tidbits

i just marked the first couple of questions on the exam, and while i did so i looked over the answers on the rest of the exams. it looks like everyone did pretty well.

today tropical storm cindy hit the gulf coast near mobile, alabama. the radar was showing good spiral banding around a fairly large eye. a pretty storm, albeit a dangerous one.

the northeast quadrant of tropical storms has the setup for tornadoes in the storms embedded in the spiral bands. it's a neat phenomenon, mainly based on weak to moderate instability (obviously due to plentiful moisture) and strong wind shear. the spc has a tornado watch out for the area and, from time to time, a tornado warning (doppler-based) goes out.

why am i talking about tropical storms? well, last year paul from the college of dupage took a couple of days off in the fall, flew out to florida, and went hurricane chasing. well, he wasn't impressed. it was windy, and it was wet. that's pretty much all he could say. i suppose he was hoping to witness a spiral band tornado, but the tropical storm he intercepted seemed to lack something to make tornadoes that time.

as i type this there's a band of weak thunderstorms making its way eastward from portage. it should be here by 10:30 or so, assuming it stays intact.

well, time to update the forecasts!