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Bubble High
Last night during the 6pm news, Gary volunteered me to write a blog entry on the BUBBLE HIGH. (thanks, Gary.) :) I think he is getting me back for making him do the Fracto Cumulus Cloud entry... Anyway... here it goes!
We experienced this weather phenomenon yesterday evening, after thunderstorms moved through the KC Metro.
A bubble high is basically a smaller area of high pressure. We refer to these smaller scale weather features as "mesoscale" (maybe 50 to 200 miles in size). This meso-high is usually associated with cooler air from the rainy downdraft of a thunderstorm. Once the thunderstorms move through... they cool the air... so we are left with a different airmass than we started with.
Yesterday is the perfect example. We started in the upper 70s and lower 80s. Then the rain came and cooled us into the 60s. This cooler air is a sign things are becoming more stable.
Some sort of boundary separates the bubble high from the surrounding air... yesterday evening it was our outflow boundary, south of KC. It was still in the 80s to the south... but in our bubble high... we were in the 60s.
Below is a diagram I had fun making in paint. I am not artist... but hopefully you can get an idea of what I'm talking about:
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Jamie
Posted by at May 12, 2005 11:44 AM
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Every year we go through this uncertainty about our school's Field Day. It's scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, and it is an all-day outdoor event.
We think that we're going to reschedule it for Tuesday of next week. How likely is it that tomorrow will be a rainout? We didn't have a single drop of rain at our school in Olathe yesterday, as you know. Now will the southside of the metro be hit this Thursday evening and Friday. Thanks for the planning help. We hope to make a decision by the end of the school day today.
Keep being the most accurate of all!
JOE:
It looks like there *will* be rain tomorrow... according to everything we see right now. Tuesday looks good... warm and partly cloudy.
Posted by: Joe Winkler at May 12, 2005 1:03 PM
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I love this feature and the ability ask questions of someone that loves observing the weather as much or more than I do. I'm in Warrensburg MO and its been bone dry here. It seems like the atmosphere here in West Central Missouri has been capped for the past several months. The storms yesterday fired just north and east of us and proceeded to march northeast and I don't think we got more than the two or three drops of rain I saw on my windshield. My question is, what makes up an atmospheric "cap" and what do you look for in defining one? We could use something to move in here and break through to give us a little more rain--I don't want to always be watering my poor plants lol.
Mike,
The atmosphere hasn't been capped, but something is very wrong. Yesterday thunderstorms missed the areas that are the driest. We'll see what happens today. It is very difficult to explain. I will address this in further Blog entries soon.
Gary
Posted by: Mike at May 12, 2005 1:34 PM
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This may not be the proper forum but I will ask it here anyway.
Do you guys have the capabilities to do live web-casting during severe weather? I have constant access to my computer at work and when severe weather breaks out I would love to be able to watch from here. I get a great kick out of watching some of the Oklahoma tv stations on the web during their severe weather events.
Not only is it cool to watch but in my opinion it is a safety factor for people at work with no access to tv or radio. Just a thought, keep up the great work.
Mike
We don't have webcasting technology yet!
Gary Lezak
Posted by: mike at May 12, 2005 1:51 PM
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I was wondering when the next full moon is scheduled. I have heard that moon has different effects on people and animals, and was wondering if that is correct.
KATHY:
The next full moon is Monday, May 23. I have also heard the moon has different effects on things... it does play with the gravity force... maybe that is enough to throw things "off" a bit?? I found this interesting article online: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1218_021218_moon.html
Jamie
Posted by: Kathy at May 12, 2005 2:00 PM
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Wow, storms over central Kansas have really blown up over the last hour. With it in the mid 80's do you think these storms will hold together after the sun goes down tonight? Or will they arrive prior to the sun going down since we still have a good 5 hours of daylight left? Thanks for giving my family the best forecast in town hands down!
BRIAN:
We have been watching the line of storms on Live Triple Action Doppler this afternoon. The line itself is moving rather slowly... it might reach the KC metro around 8-10pm. That would be during/after sun set.
BUT we are seeing signs of the line not even getting here at ALL... so rain is not a guarantee at this point. Stay tuned at 5 and 6pm for Gary's updates... he will be explaining this.
Jamie
Posted by: Brian at May 12, 2005 3:10 PM
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I think your paintings are lovely. Keep up the great work!
ANNE:
THANK YOU!!!! :)
Jamie
Posted by: Anne Jackson at May 12, 2005 5:56 PM
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I'm in the same boat as Mike. I live in S. KC (435/State) and everything has moved around us. Lee's Summitt even got rain after nothing happened here. I assume just bad luck. I'm sure the folks in Platte Co. think bad luck for them since everything has been going through their neck of the woods. My question (finally)... how do you determine rainfall? On the news it says something like we are 1.34 inches below normal for this time of year. After the past couple days, Platte City has had several inches of rain while we have had our driveway almost completely covered by sprinkles. I understand that KCI is the official weather spot, but after the weirdness of the past couple days, do you alter or average total rainfall to include the whole metro area? Thanks!
HANK:
Hello, I hope you have rain by now!! :)
As for the rainfall totals... we do NOT alter or average them in any way. The official numbers are taken from the weather recoding stations... and whatever falls is IT. It is definitely not a perfect system, as you pointed out... some areas receive more rain than others! I am working on a blog entry with the latest numbers... more to come!
Jamie
Posted by: hank at May 12, 2005 11:17 PM
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