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| Anonymous |
 Posted: 01-07-2002 04:58 Post subject: Wind Shock |
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I had a search for a weird weather thread, but I couldn't find one. This article describes a phenomena that is new to me:
'Multiple suns, upside-down mountains and rainbow halos are part of the fairytale landscape in the perilous Antarctic winter.
Wind gusting in a swirling vortex, which can reach 80 knots (96 mph), creates electrical charges strong enough to light neon tubes spontaneously and give people outdoors powerful shocks...
"Another weird effect is when the ice mist forms a rainbow halo around your head. It's almost spiritual," [physicist Mike Mathews] said.
One of the most disconcerting things is a powerful electric jolt which people get if they bump into each other outside when the wind is blowing strongly.
"It goes right through the soles of your shoes, even though they are rubber and two cms thick. It's not dangerous but you still get sore," Mathews said. "And if you take neon lights outside they would glow by themselves." '
I've never heard of wind carrying an electrical charge before. Anyone any info on this? |
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Anome_ Faceless Man
Great Old One Joined: 23 May 2002 Total posts: 5380 Location: Left, and to the back. Age: 45 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-07-2002 09:48 Post subject: |
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I think it's just a matter of friction. The wind rubs against the ground (and any unlucky scientists wandering about), and creates a static charge. The same thing applies on a cold, dry, windy day in Winter or Autumn. The main difference is that the wind is stronger, the air colder and drier (as all the water has been frozen out).
Then there is the fact that the magnetic field in that part of the world is substantially different, which may have an effect. The halos are probably caused by ice crystals in the air.
Of course, I am mostly guessing, and will stand (or sit if necessary) corrected if anyone posts a thorough and referenced rebuttal. |
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| _schnor Stand back boy!
Joined: 14 Aug 2001 Total posts: 990 Location: Llangollen Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-07-2002 10:09 Post subject: |
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Although I haven't heard anything like this before, that sounds reasonable to me, although I think an addition would be the wind itself not carrying a alectrical charge through friction, but ice particles instead.
I haven't seen the link as it takes ages to load, could it be something to do with solar radiation due to a lack of ozone charging the ice particles/air too? |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 01-07-2002 18:38 Post subject: |
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| The environment would probably be ideal for the generation of static charges. The absolute humidity of the air is amazingly low. (Probably only rivalled by the "hot" deserts.) In fact the complete lack of moisture means that one of the biggest causes of death is due to fire. (Things end off being freeze dried.) |
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| mejane1 miaow, miaow... purrrr Joined: 17 Jan 2002 Total posts: 1637 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 01-07-2002 18:57 Post subject: |
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Here's some nice piccies of some of these phenonoma.
I wonder if the "charged" wind is a description of the Katabatic wind (details on the above link)? It's not really electric but could certainly be shocking to experience! (bad pun - sorry  )
Jane. |
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| _schnor Stand back boy!
Joined: 14 Aug 2001 Total posts: 990 Location: Llangollen Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-07-2002 18:58 Post subject: |
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After having looked at the story in detail it's probably what we all thought - a combination of ice crystals being highly charged, with apparently antarctic ice being "pure" because it forms at much lower temperatures, and are more likely to become static.
This combined with the magnetic south pole, you get ice halos (like around the moon a few months back) around less charged objects, for example the scientists. It probably doesn't have anything to do with the depleted ozone layer.
phew 
[edit no 4]
I don't think it's katabatic wind, as that's merely a transferrence of cold air sinking and condensing as it travels down a valley - we have lovely displays after it rains down in the dee valley 
wow - check out the picture of the Brocken spectrum on the url jane posted! We have a name at last!
could the ice crystals act as a prism, as it looks like a mini rainbow...
I've found a nicer picture here
Last edited by _schnor on 01-07-2002 19:13; edited 1 time in total |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 01-07-2002 22:34 Post subject: |
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If you want to see a glory without travelling to the Antarctic, or climbing up a mountain, just try keeping a lookout next time you fly off on holiday or business.
If flying over uniform cloud, look for the shadow of the aircraft on the cloud below. If the conditions are just right, you should see glow around the shadow, due to the retroreflection of sunlight. With a bit of luck you may also see the rainbow as well. I've seen a few myself this way. |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 17-07-2004 14:23 Post subject: Weird weather |
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| Quote: | Monster raindrops delight experts
By Paul Rincon
BBC News Online science staff
Scientists have observed the biggest raindrops recorded on Earth - which may be a whopping 1cm in size.
The monster water droplets were observed from the air, by atmospheric experts studying clouds.
They were recorded over Brazil and the Marshall Islands, a group of atolls and reefs in the central Pacific Ocean.
US scientists report in Geophysical Research Letters that a large fire may have influenced the formation of the huge raindrops recorded over Brazil.
"They are the biggest raindrops I have seen in 30 years of flying," Professor Peter Hobbs, co-author of the report told BBC News Online.
Professor Hobbs and colleague Arthur Rangno, of the University of Washington, US, recorded the droplets as being about 8.8mm and possibly as large as 1cm. He speculated that some of these giant droplets even reach the ground.
Raindrops in free-fall are often depicted as teardrop-shaped. In fact, raindrops with diameters larger than 2mm are flattened on their undersides and gradually change in shape from spherical to jellyfish-shaped.
Average drops of rain are between 1 and 2mm in diameter. The previous largest raindrops recorded - 8mm wide over Hawaii - were reported by researchers in 1986.
Smoking gun
Images of the raindrops were taken by a laser instrument on a research plane that flew through cumulus congestus clouds spawned by burning forest in Brazil's Amazon and in clean marine air over the Marshall Islands.
The authors propose that in Brazil, the giant raindrops were formed by condensation of droplets on to giant smoke particles.
However, this was clearly not the case for the mammoth raindrops observed in the Marshall Islands. The scientists think that here, the droplets rapidly grew in size by colliding with each other in narrow regions of cloud with an unusually high content of liquid water.
It was previously thought that, in practice at least, droplets would break up before reaching this size.
"It is remarkable that in two quite different environments, albeit both tropical but one extremely polluted and the other very clean, we measured raindrops that must have undergone numerous collisions without breaking up," Hobbs and Rangno write in Geophysical Research Letters.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/3898305.stm
Published: 2004/07/16 10:38:43 GMT
© BBC MMIV |
Last edited by Mighty_Emperor on 08-09-2004 15:54; edited 1 time in total |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 21-07-2004 16:55 Post subject: White rainbow |
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Picture attached.
| Quote: | Colours of the rainbow turn to white
Michelle Pountney
21jul04
IT'S not so much a rainbow as a drizzle-bow. A rare clear white rainbow formed over Melbourne's west yesterday.
People looking toward the sky caught a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse of the clear version of the rainbow's colourless cousin.
Weather bureau senior forecaster Dean Stewart said a clear or white rainbow occurred when rain droplets were too small to refract light into the spectrum of the rainbow.
"Because the drops are so small they don't refract the light as much as normal larger raindrops so you are not getting the same breakdown of the light spectrum," he said.
"They are quite rare."
None of the weather-watching staff at the bureau could remember seeing one before and hit the books for the cause of the rare phenomenon.
Mr Stewart said yesterday's clear rainbow did not appear to go all the way to the ground -- but formed in tiny raindrops drizzling out from the base of the cloud that evaporated before hitting the ground.
Photographer John Hart took this picture of the rare rainbow during 10th birthday celebrations for the Melbourne Observation Deck at Rialto Towers.
Since opening in July 1994, the observation deck has welcomed more than five million visitors. |
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10200032%255E2862,00.html |
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| CygnusRex Incubus Joined: 04 Jan 2002 Total posts: 1771 Location: NOT on a ladder, just outside your bedroom window Age: 83 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 22-07-2004 09:21 Post subject: Colourless Rainbow |
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| Quote: | Colours of the rainbow turn to white
Michelle Pountney
21jul04
IT'S not so much a rainbow as a drizzle-bow. A rare clear white rainbow formed over Melbourne's west yesterday.
People looking toward the sky caught a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse of the clear version of the rainbow's colourless cousin.
Weather bureau senior forecaster Dean Stewart said a clear or white rainbow occurred when rain droplets were too small to refract light into the spectrum of the rainbow.
"Because the drops are so small they don't refract the light as much as normal larger raindrops so you are not getting the same breakdown of the light spectrum," he said.
"They are quite rare."
None of the weather-watching staff at the bureau could remember seeing one before and hit the books for the cause of the rare phenomenon.
Mr Stewart said yesterday's clear rainbow did not appear to go all the way to the ground -- but formed in tiny raindrops drizzling out from the base of the cloud that evaporated before hitting the ground.
Photographer John Hart took this picture of the rare rainbow during 10th birthday celebrations for the Melbourne Observation Deck at Rialto Towers.
Since opening in July 1994, the observation deck has welcomed more than five million visitors. |
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,1658,363124,00.jpg
Original Story |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-07-2004 03:24 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | 'Brocken specter' dazzles climbers on Mt. Fuji
FUJIYOSHIDA, Yamanashi -- Climbers in Japan are raving about the "Brocken effect," a rainbow-like rings surrounding a climber's shadow created when the sun is low.
The Brocken specter is a mysterious phenomenon whereby a climber's image is surrounded by rainbow-like rings, and appears in foggy conditions on high mountains, especially when the sun is low at dawn or dusk.
Climbers experienced the Brocken specter near the top of 3,776-meter Mount Fuji on July 18.
On that day, the weather was poor in the morning, but the sun broke through shortly after 4 p.m., creating a distant shadow of a climber surrounded by rainbow-like rings.
"I'd heard of it, but this was the first time to actually see it," said a climber from Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture. "This was my lucky day."
The Brocken specter is a sign of good luck in Japan.The Brocken effect is named after Mount Brocken in Germany where it is often seen. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, July 22, 2004) |
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20040722p2a00m0dm015001c.html |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 31-07-2004 04:29 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | What was that cloud in Richland?
Friday, July 30, 2004
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Authorities from Allegheny and Butler counties say residents had nothing to fear from a mysterious yellowish-green cloud that appeared yesterday morning near Bakerstown in Richland.
There was no confirmation of a chemical release, which had been suspected earlier yesterday after authorities received numerous 911 calls about the cloud. Officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection, Butler County Emergency Services, an Allegheny County hazardous materials team and local police and firefighters were dispatched in northern Allegheny and southern Butler counties shortly before noon yesterday and detected no chemical releases.
Local residents complained of a chlorine or sweet smell in the air, but there were no evacuations, ill effects or hospitalizations, officials said. Local police asked citizens to remain indoors while it was being investigated, but apparently the cloud dissipated quickly. By the time some emergency response teams arrived, it was gone with the wind.
Allegheny County health officials said tests revealed air quality was normal and they received no reports of chemical accidents at local industries or escaped chlorine at swimming pools.
The National Weather Service suspects the cloud may have been the result of an inversion. |
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04212/354210.stm
| Quote: | Mysterious mist leaves West Deer in a fragrant haze
By Jonathan Szish
TRIBUNE-REVIEW NEWS SERVICE
Friday, July 30, 2004
Portions of West Deer were in a sweet-smelling haze Thursday, and no one's sure what it was.
Residents initially were told to stay inside when the mysterious wisps appeared. Several residents of Shoaf and Beechnut streets reported irritated eyes, but no one was hospitalized, police said.
The Allegheny County Health Department and the state Department of Environmental Protection were called, but authorities could not determine the source. Police, firefighters and Hazmat crews also responded.
"It was like a haze in the air, maybe 8 to 10 feet off the ground," said West Deer Police Sgt. Darren Mikus, who responded to calls from the Blanchard and Curtisville sections of the township. "It almost looked like heat (rising)."
The haze was barely visible, he said.
The haze had a sweet, strong odor and lay in 100-foot strips over a 3- to 4-mile-wide area, Mikus said. It lifted after about 30 minutes.
"We were unable to track exactly what it was. There is no danger to any of the residents," DEP spokeswoman Betsy Mallison said about 5 p.m.
Asked if anyone was ever in danger, Mallison said, "since we don't know exactly what it was, we can't tell exactly what impact it would have had on the community."
County Health Department spokesman Guillermo Cole said the agency found no releases of chemicals from plants or of chlorine gas from swimming pools. The department tested for particulates and vapors in the area and found nothing abnormal, he said.
The mystery started about 11:30 a.m., when township police received eight to 10 calls about a "strong odor."
DEP officials think the haze originated in Richland, moved to West Deer and then to Middlesex, Butler County, Mallison said.
She said anyone who smells mysterious outdoor odors should call 911.
Butler County emergency services said a weather inversion might have been responsible.
National Weather Service meteorologist Rich Redmond, who saw the haze from his home in Buffalo, Butler County, said an inversion is a daily occurrence in which the air acts like a ceiling because the temperature gets warmer with altitude instead of getting colder.
"Whatever formed that haze or cloud may have become trapped in that area where it can't rise any further," Redmond said. "There had to be a source of some kind of particle in the air to cause that. What that was, I don't know."
Redmond saw the haze about 10:30 a.m.
"I didn't smell anything. There was nothing burning my eyes," Redmond said. "You could see it. It looked like somebody was burning something. It was just everywhere. The first thing I thought was, 'Well, we're finally getting smoke from the fires in Alaska.' " |
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/regional/s_205778.html
| Quote: | All-clear issued after West Deer mystery clouds sighted
By Jonathan Szish
VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Thursday, July 29, 2004
West Deer police issued an all-clear about 2:30 p.m. today after a mysterious cloud or haze was reported covering a large portion of the township.
"There’s no reason to panic or leave or hide in your house," township police Sgt. Darren Mikus said during an impromptu press conference at the township building on East Union Road.
A weather inversion might be responsible for the cloud sighted today over northern Allegheny and southern Butler counties, according to a release from the Butler County emergency services.
"At this point no confirmation of any type of chemical release is reported in the area," the release received at 2:15 p.m. said.
West Deer police received eight to 10 calls about 11:30 a.m. today about a "strong odor" in the Blanchard and Curtisville sections of the township, police said. Blanchard is in the northeastern part of the township near Fawn while Curtisville is in the north-central part of West Deer.
Mikus drove to where the cloud or haze was sighted immediately after the calls. "It was like a haze in the air, maybe 8 to 10 feet off the ground," Mikus said. "It almost looked like heat (rising)." The haze was barely visible, he said.
The haze lay over the township in 100-foot strips over a three- to four-mile wide area of the township. He said earlier reports that it was a cloud floating through the township were wrong.
The haze had a sweet, strong odor, he said. It did not smell like chlorine, he said.
An elderly woman in the Curtisville section complained of eye irritation after encountering the haze, but was not hospitalized, police said.
The haze lifted after about 30 minutes, Mikus said.
The state Department of Environmental Protection, along with Allegheny County and township fire officials, tried to locate the source of the haze but were unable, police said.
The DEP was continuing this afternoon to try to locate the source, Mikus said.
Butler County Department of Emergency Services and 911 center received numerous calls concerning the sighting, a release said.
Allegheny County Hazmat team and several emergency services from southern Butler County were dispatched to the area, according to the release.
"Discussion with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh by Allegheny County authorities indicates the clouds may be the result of a weather inversion in the area," the release said.
Butler County wasn’t issuing any advisories or recommendations at the time, the release said.
Earlier, West Deer township manager Jason Dailey described the sighting as a sweet-smelling gray cloud spreading five to six miles across the township. The sighting prompted township and emergency officials to warn residents to stay indoors if possible at the time, Dailey said.
The cloud was stationary at the Butler County line at 1 p.m., Dailey said. Allegheny County hazardous materials team members and the township emergency management coordinator were trying to determine the content and source of the cloud, Dailey said. |
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pmupdate/s_205705.html |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 18-08-2004 15:44 Post subject: Sun Pillars |
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[QUOTE]Spectacular happenings in the dawn sky
The beginning of the Upper Sun Pillar display.
On Sunday 16th May west Cornwall experienced a spectacular Upper Sun Pillar.
It was formed from ice crystals in the atmosphere.
[quote]FACTS
Ice crystals form in a wide variety of shapes and sizes: stars, needles, columns and plates.
When bright light passes from the sun, moon or an artificial light source through a portion of the sky containing a concentration of ice crystals, magical apparitions often appear.
The crystals focus, scatter, bend, split and reflect the light rays into a kaleidoscope of optical phenomena: arcs, glories, halos, pillars and sun dogs. | Quote: |
Ice crystals form in the atmosphere in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and when bright light from the Sun, Moon or even a street light passes through a part of the sky containing them, some interesting shapes develop.
One of these is the Light Pillar and the most commonly seen form is the Upper Sun Pillar. It extends from 5 to 10 degrees above the sun when it is just below or just below the horizon.
The ice crystals are in the form of flat hexagonal plates and these reflect the light externally and internally downwards. When the crystals are below a line between the observer and the sun they can reflect the light upwards to form a pillar that appears to be under the Sun.
Because the light forming the pillar is reflected, the pillar takes on that colour so that it is red or orange when close to the horizon and becomes yellow or white as the sun rises.
This change can be seen in the pictures on this page.
They were all taken around dawn on Sunday 16th of May 2004, one by Amanda Jenkin and the others by BBC Radio Cornwall's Chris Stumbles |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/weather/uppersunpillar.shtml
More stuff on light pillars:
http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/eyes/pillars.htm |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-09-2004 23:18 Post subject: |
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A strange cloud:
| Quote: | ‘Mystery Cloud’ Appears Over Eastern U.S. And Canada
By Joe Rao
SPACE.com's Night Sky Columnist
posted: 01 September 2004
07:44 am ET
Anyone who lives in the eastern part of the United States or Canada and gazing skyward on Tuesday evening may have noticed something strange in their west-northwest sky.
At around 9 p.m. EDT, a small, bright, silvery circular cloud of light suddenly appeared. Over the next 25 minutes, the cloud appeared to gradually expand and fade, finally becoming invisible to the unaided eye. Those who saw it, wondered exactly what it might have been.
John Bortle, a well-known amateur astronomer with over four-decades of experience of sky observing first caught sight of the cloud at 9:03 p.m. EDT from his home in Stormville, New York. Initially, he thought the cloud was as bright as zero or first magnitude and upon examining it carefully with binoculars, thought that it " ... resembled the petals of a day lily." By 9:30 p.m., he reported that the cloud had faded completely from his view.
From the North Fork of Long Island, Bill Bogardus and his wife were out observing when they took note of the cloud " ... about the size of the moon" in the northwest sky. "It was a roundish, yet not all that round, object drifting towards our location very slowly, slower that most satellites because it took at least twenty minutes to move from where we first saw it to pretty much our zenith."
After studying it for a while through an 8-inch telescope, Bogardus noticed two points of light, " ... like a satellite would appear, in line and above a jet of gas that seemed to come from them."
Observing from Ithaca, New York, Joseph Storch used 7x50 binoculars on the cloud and reported a star-like point or nucleus and four butterfly shaped petals radiating outward.
Other reports, received as far west as Toronto tell of people who initially thought that what they were seeing was the moon behind a cloud. Typical was the comment: "For a second I thought it was the moon, then I realized the moon was in the east."
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What was it?
Not a few people who saw this strange, expanding cloud thought that it might have been an atmospheric experiment sent aloft by a sounding rocket. Over the years, those living along the US East Coast have been accustomed to occasionally seeing unusual brightly colored clouds caused when exotic chemicals such as barium and trimethylaluminum were released into the Earth's ionosphere by rockets launched from NASA's Wallops Island, Virginia site.
NASA was indeed responsible for the unusual cloud formation on Tuesday night, but it was not part of a planned experiment.
It was, in reality, a fuel dump of the Centaur stage involved in the NRO-1 satellite launch from Cape Canaveral late Tuesday afternoon. Dumping excess fuel is the usual practice for all Centaur-booster assisted launches. It happens after spacecraft separation; the fuel bleeding off from a Centaur upper rocket stage on its second orbit after launch. Being just after nightfall, the cloud of fuel was still sunlit at that altitude.
And those who were fortuitously outside when the dump occurred, were the ones who saw this very unusual sight! |
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/mystery_cloud_040901.html |
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