Last week I had fun with a number of meteorological terms. Like why do they call meteorologists meteorologists? What has weather got to do with meteors? This week I want to clarify some of the meanings as I find them interesting – plus, I warped them pretty badly, so I feel honor bound to rectify my aimless blundering.
I will start out by saying that I did come across an interesting bit on the difference between partly cloudy versus mostly sunny and the like. When a forecast is given, the number of oktas (unit of measurement equal to 1/8 of the sky) covered by opaque clouds gives them the correct term of mostly or partly, cloudy or sunny. (Opaque means you can’t see through them.) The only exception is that partly sunny and partly cloudy do mean the same thing; except at night since you can’t see the sun (part of the measurement is if the sun or moon are hidden), so that makes partly cloudy the correct term for nighttime conditions. The optimist in me still prefers to stick with the mostly sunny. In fact, I changed weather apps in my phone, because the one that came with the phone showed constant cloudy days, whereas the new one was much more optimistic and showed sunny days much more frequently. And (thankfully!) it is more accurate.
So, let’s tackle that freezing rain. It is not mild-mannered sleet or just really cold rain. Well, ok, it is really cold rain; but it is rain. It is, in fact, rain until it makes contact with a cold object, then it freezes instantly. Sleet, on the other hand, can be rain or melted snow which turns into ice on its way to the ground. (Okay, again – rain or melted snow??? Is there a difference? For those of you who are interested, yes. Believe it or not, there is a slight difference at the molecular level.)
We’ll stay with the cold stuff first and discuss those veggies (broccoli and cauliflower – and sometimes carrots) or wintry mix. This happens when there is an above-freezing layer of air and then a below-freezing layer beneath it. Precipitation travels through both layers and the end result can be snow, sleet and/or freezing rain. All at the same time (it must be Michigan!!!). Thus, wintry mix.
All this ice! And this is just the beginning of the cold terms. How do we survive? Because there’s hail, ice fog, snow squalls…but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
Hail could be one of those “ignorance is bliss” things. Cute, wee hail is in truth associated with more dangerous weather as its creation comes with powerful updrafts inside thunderstorms. Water is forced into freezing into hailstones, sometime quite large, which, when they become too heavy, fall to the ground. A bit scary and amazing at the same time. Weather is a bit magical. Although, those of you who have had their cars destroyed – or worse – from big hailstones, would likely not call it magical; unless it’s an Alfred Hitchcock kind of magic.
Ice fog or freezing fog can occur as far south as Georgia. This fog is so cold that suspended precipitations of water freeze on contact and can encase everything in thick sheets of ice. I’m reaching for my ice resistant footwear…or maybe I’m staying home that day.
The crying, antagonistic snow squalls – just brief, though intense, bursts of snowfall. They usually happen during the day, and always come with a great volume of snow and powerful gusts of wind. This combination can blot out a scene to almost no visibility and with little warning. (How many different versions of snow are there, anyway? According to Michigan meteorologists – two. Real snow and fake snow. Well, they call it Lake Effect snow.)
Who doesn’t like a proper blizzard (no, I’m not talking about the Dairy Queen right now) as long as they don’t have to drive in it? And many of us do have to drive in it. What are the qualifications for a bad snow storm being labeled a blizzard? There are three elements: must have frequent gusts of at least 35 mph winds, must have continuous snow that reduces visibility to less than a quarter-mile, and thirdly, must keep this nastiness up for at least three hours. Yeah. Driven through that more than once. I’m staying home that day, too.
On a slightly milder note, there’s frost. Although when it comes during late spring, it can cause our farmers great loss. For the rest of us, it’s not as harmful as the rest of this cold weather – as long as it’s not too heavy and we’re careful where we walk. Frost is basically frozen dew. I’ve seen some gorgeous, intricate designs made by frost. Nature at its best artistry. The nice thing about frost, depending on the time of year, is once the day takes over, it’s bound to melt.
Last in our line-up of cold weather terms is wind chill. I saved it for last as it’ll make a nice segue (transition) into the hotter temps. Anyone who lives in true winter areas knows what it feels like to walk out into a balmy 29 degrees Fahrenheit and have it feel like 40 degrees below. That’s because that’s what the wind can do. It can alter the true temperature to well below the actual temperature. When that bitterly cold wind hits your skin, it is 40 degrees below, not 29 degrees above.
(Here’s the segue.) On the opposite end, the heat index is basically the same thing as the wind chill factor, except the result is hotter rather than colder. On the hot end of the spectrum, it’s the humidity that changes the feel of the temperature. A rise in humidity makes perspiration harder to evaporate. This disrupts the natural cooling system in our bodies and makes it feel hotter than it really is.
Speaking of humidity (another lovely segue) – relative humidity is similar to dew point. It’s the amount of atmospheric moisture compared to the amount that would exist if the air was saturated. Okay, who came up with this one? Do we need to know what might exist, but that doesn’t exist at the moment??? Let’s see if dew point helps. Roughly speaking, dew point is when air is cooled enough to reach a level of moisture saturation, so it can form drops of water or dew on solid objects. Huh…maybe I should have explained dew point first…I guess a true meteorologist could explain these two better than I.
This is a long one (the blog), so I’ll strive to round off the rest a bit.
Tropical depression – not a sad storm. An infant stage of a hurricane; a tropical cyclone with maximum winds of 38 mph.
A drought is a long time without rain and record-breaking high temps, though it can be brought on by overpopulation and land overuse. Economically speaking, only hurricanes are more damaging in the US.
Black ice – very thin, almost invisible ice on roads, caused when snow melts onto roads that are still cold enough to freeze it on contact.
Flash floods – think of a dam breaking; torrential rains, gushing water through narrow areas that can’t absorb the amount of water coming at it. This often occurs after a drought, as the land can’t absorb as quickly when it’s dried out.
Microburst – this one’s too Sci-fi and scary to think about. Basically, updrafts inside a dangerous thunderstorm suspend a lot of rain and ice, and if it weakens, it drops it all on whoever is below – this also results in destructive, tornado-like winds. Maybe I was right about the explosion in the microwave, except it occurs outside.
I definitely took liberties with wind shear (fan motivated haircut). Wind shear is a measurement of wind – especially handy when designing a tall building.
Lastly, from last week’s ridiculousness, smog is not a dragon in a fantasy story. It’s almost worse. It is a visible, toxic pollution that accumulates; usually over a heavily populated city.
With the exception of our sun-filled, calm days, weather is not for the faint-hearted. Some preparation can be done ahead, but sometimes, we just have to grit our teeth and pray really hard. To bring the mood up, I’ll leave you with one final moment of ridiculousness. Jet stream: the air roadways the Jetsons traveled on in their flying cars.
I actually wanted to end with the magic of rainbows, but once I got into them, I realized they can’t be delegated to a single, small paragraph. For now, let’s be wary of potentially destructive weather, but let’s also appreciate the power and beauty of this planet. Let’s let the magic of sunshine and rainbows into our souls and go on with the rest of our day with a peaceful, joy-filled heart.
Info from Weather Watch / What's the Difference Between "Mostly Sunny and "Partly Cloudy"? by Matt Soniak, and Stacker.com / 50 Common Weather Terms Explained by Andrew Lisa
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