Area Forecast (June 23 to June 28)

This forecast is valid for the area surrounding Moorestown, NJ

Summer is finally here, and it’s actually sunny! For the past few days, 10 to be exact, rain and cooler temperatures have swept taunted over our region but that is all about to change as high pressure moves into the region mid-week. For today we can expect mostly sunny skies with a high near 82. Low pressure will move into the area by Wednesday, as there is a slightly chance of showers Tuesday night into Wednesday. Expect a high of 80 for Wednesday and partly cloudy skies and a low of 65 Wednesday night. We’ll be feeling the heat on Thursday as we can expect a high temperature around 90, mostly sunny skies and slightly breezy conditions with west winds at 4 to 7 mph. For Friday, the forecast looks to be pleasant with mostly cloudy sky conditions and a high near 87. For the weekend, Saturday will be mostly sunny with a high near 90, and an evening low of 68. Sunday looks to bring another chance for showers, as we can expect mostly cloud skies and a high in the upper 80s.

The Eye

***Just some background information about the picture***

I wanted to share a picture that I captured a few days ago. It was taken in the parking lot of the Cherry Hill Mall in Cherry Hill, NJ. It caught my attention because the cloud formation was HUGE and as I was amazed by its towering size, I noticed that the center of the cloud was open. With the sunlight behind the formation and the open space in the center, it looked like an eye. To me at least. I also like how other cloud types are displayed in the picture as well as the orange glow of color towards the bottom. Enjoy!

New Cloud Type Debate and Cloud Formation

There may be a new cloud type in which Jane Wiggins, a woman from Iowa shot a picture of. Just take a look at the of the clouds here:


Personally, I believe this picture is amazing though the clouds do look quite frightening. This picture raises the question as to whether the phenomena in this shot is a legitimate new type of cloud and has been the fuel to a debate among meteorologists and cloud physicists, around the world. If this is named as a new cloud type, then we are looking at the first new cloud to be recognized by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) since 1951. Though the photo is undated, the presumed time of capture is around 2006.

Clouds are formed when water vapor in the air, cools to its dew point or the temperature for which that parcel of air is cooled at a constant barometric pressure. This process results in the water vapor condensing into water droplets. The water droplets condense onto microscopic dust particles or condensation nuclei which is floating around in the atmosphere. Many atmospheric phenomena throughout the world is formed by this process or convection, which is when the air parcel cools by expansion as it moves upward in the atmosphere and as the water droplets condense latent heat is released into the atmosphere, which in return causes the formation to rise.

-->There are many different types of clouds, which can be classified into four simplified fields: cumulus, stratus, cirrus, and nimbus. Cumulus clouds are vertically developed clouds, also known as the fair weather clouds, stratus clouds are layered cloud that form at a low altitude, cirrus clouds are the high altitude clouds that are thin and wispy (my favorite clouds) and nimbus clouds are usually combined with other types of clouds and are known as the rain clouds. Of course there are MANY more clouds which form as a combination of these four basic types, such as stratocumulus clouds which are gray and appear just before a storm.

So what are the clouds in the picture? Unfortunately it may take years for the clouds in the above picture to be recognized as a new clouds as scientists debate if the clouds in this picture are in fact unique. Some articles featuring this picture, include some meteorologists quoting to have spotted a similar type of cloud formation and these clouds may not be uncommon at all. There may also be a name for this formation 'altocumulus undulatus asperatus' (see this link for the article). Nevertheless, the clouds in the picture are certainly memorizing and the mystery behind the photo is enough to incite the mind.

Planets to collide?

Yet again I was browsing news stories, this time it was on YAHOO and stumbled across an article by Marlowe Hood, reporting on the possibility of the Earth colliding with the planet Venus. Don’t worry the study which was released Wednesday, June 10, 2009, states that this smash up may happen 3.5 billion years from now and the likelihood of such an event is one-in 2500. Personally I don’t find that ratio very comforting the though of the planets colliding is a little bit frightening, though the date is 3.5 billion years from now. The article also goes on to state that “there is a 99 percent chance that the Sun’s posse of planets will continue to circle in an orderly pattern throughout the expected life span of our life-giving star, another five billion years.” And that after that “the Sun will likely expand into a red giant, engulfing Earth and its other inner planets — Mercury, Venus and Mars — in the process.” I’ve heard about this theory before and that the sun will one day consume the planet. Recently Hollywood took this theory and in a simplified yet plausible version and incorporated it in the movie Knowing (*this is a spoiler if you had not yet seen the movie*), which related solar flares to the end of the Earth. In both theories the sun, which provides the energy for may daily processes on

Earth, will one ultimately destroy everything on Earth as well. 2012 anyone?

Predicting such events so far in time, has increasing become better for astronauts and scientists, who use methods such as Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity and Mickael Gastineau generated numerical simulations to acquire knowledge of future celestial proceedings. The article states that “the researchers looked at 2,501 possible scenarios, 25 of which ended with a severely disrupted Solar System.” One researcher noted that during one of the runs the planet Mars passed very closely to Earth and that if Mars were to do that the planets would be torn apart and life, if still prominent, would “almost certainly cease to exist.”

In reading that article I found that the researchers computed mathematical equations producing results which were slightly changed or differentiated, creating new results. This process is much like that of what meteorologists use in which a equation is run though a computer, changed and produces different patterns which as slightly or greatly diverse. By doing this, forecasters and researchers can use the model runs to predict the movement of phenomena such as air masses, fronts and planetary orbits. That’s why Calculus and Physics is important in atmospheric research, you can’t divide math from science! The article went on the report that Mercury would be the first to disconnect itself from the planetary “normalcy”, because its smaller mass, stating that “At some point Mercury’s orbit would get into resonance with that of Jupiter, throwing the smaller orb even more out of kilter.”

Link to the article can be found here.

Warm and Humid

Moorestown, NJ area forecast (June 11 to June 16)

This past week has been relatively quiet when compared to the severe thunderstorms the region received yesterday morning. The aftermath from the storms left trees uprooted and an downed power lines in some parts of the area. The forecast for the week ahead looks to start off rough but finish smoothly a boundary front which moved into the region on Tuesday will remain in the area until Friday. For tomorrow we can expect patches of fog before 10 am and a chance for thunderstorms throughout the day. Expect a high temperature near 78 degrees and a nighttime low in the mid 60s with southerly winds around 7 to 10 mph, Thursday night. For Friday showers are likely as we can expect southerly winds of 7 to 10 mph and a high of 85. For Friday night expect a chance of showers mainly before midnight and a low near 63 as low pressure developing from the West, pushes the boundary front off the coast Friday night. The weekend looks to be pleasant but humid with temperatures in the lower 80s and partly sunny sky conditions. Another low system from the northeast will move into the region by Sunday night as we can expect a chance of showers for Sunday night and a low around 60. For Monday we can expect a chance for showers and a high temperature of 75 and a nighttime low of 63. A high pressure system settles into the region for Tuesday as we can expect a high near 78 and mostly cloudy skies.

*** 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season Update!!!***

So far the only topical cyclone that has formed in the Atlantic this season has been Tropical Depression One which formed on May 28th a few days shy of the official start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season and currently there are tropical cyclones. It’s only 9 days into the season and the potential for hurricanes is just getting started…

Facts:

Most active season (on record): 2005

(28 tropical cyclones formed, 15 of which became hurricanes, this was a record)

Least active season (on record): 1914

(Only one tropical cyclone was known to have formed)

Let's go Ana!

It’s here! The official start of the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season is today. Currently, there are no active systems in either the Atlantic and Pacific water basins. Forecasters predicted, earlier this year, a near-normal to above normal season for the Atlantic Hurricane Season . Though there are no active system, this season has become the third straight Atlantic Hurricane Season to start early due a tropical depression on May 28th. The tropical depression which formed of the coast of the eastern United States (near Rhode Island and Nova Scotia) and was was named Tropical Depression One and was predicted to not be a threat to the United States. The depression sustained maximum winds of 35 mph (55 kph), and dissipated over the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The official runs from June 1st to November 30th and when the first tropical storm sustaining wind speeds of 39 to 72 mph (68 to 118 kph), is formed, it will earn the name of ANA.

Below is a picture of Tropical Depression One:

Tropical Depression One, May 28, 2009

Source

Names to be used for the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane season are listed as follows:

Ana
Bill
Claudette
Danny
Erika
Fred
Grace
Henri
Ida
Joaquin
Kate
Larry
Mindy
Nicholas
Odette
Peter
Rose
Sam
Teresa
Victor
Wanda