Rope clouds are elongated lines of cumuliform clouds that develop at the leading edge of an advancing cold front. They are most commonly seen over the ocean, where friction and topography effects that might disrupt the development of a line are minimal. For the example seen today, a RUC temperature analysis over the Gulf... Read More

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there were 11 fires with a total of 90,679 acres burning in California on 22 October 2007  –  many of the larger fires where described as “0% contained”, and large-scale evacuations were declared from San Diego to Malibu. An animation of GOES-11 visible channel images (above) shows large... Read More

Hot and dry Santa Ana conditions across southern California (with wind gusts as high as 91 mph in Los Angeles county and 87 mph in Ventura county) caused widespread blowing dust/sand (reducing surface visibility to 3 miles at Ontario, station identifier KONT) and created an environment that allowed several large... Read More

An occluded storm that affected the upper midwest early in the morning of 16 October displayed cloud characteristics that can be interpreted as the development of a TROWAL (A TROugh of Warm air ALoft). The highest, coldest clouds tops that at the start of the loop are in north-central Illinois... Read More