Questions tagged [weather]
The weather tag has no usage guidance.
217
questions
3
votes
1
answer
41
views
Why does relative humidity appear limited for temperatures above 80°F?
I recently compiled ten years of NOAA local climatological data. I noticed that the maximum relative humidity dropped linearly from 100% at about 80°F to 20% at about 110°F. Nothing obvious comes to ...
- 31
1
vote
0
answers
49
views
Forecasted temperature in the shade vs. theoretical temperature in the sun
I understand that different objects absorb different amounts of light (blackbody absorption). I wonder how feasible it would be to calculate the approximate temperature in the sun based upon the ...
- 111
0
votes
1
answer
26
views
Is there a formula describing corona effect that naturally occurs during storms?
Imagine we have a tree during thunderstorm. Due to electric field in the atmosphere, a corona discharge appears on top of it. My question is: is there a formula describing this effect?
I've already ...
- 25
1
vote
0
answers
20
views
Oxygen condensation on Earth
I am getting interesting results using the Clausius-Clapeyron relation to calculate the saturation vapour pressure of diatomic oxygen. I am using the following values:
214kJ/kg for latent heat of ...
- 323
1
vote
0
answers
44
views
Moist adiabatic lapse rate
Wikipedia gives the following equation to calculate the moist adiabatic lapse rate $\Gamma_w$, assuming that there is only one condensible gas (water vapour) mixed in the "dry air":
$\...
- 323
1
vote
2
answers
48
views
Katabatic Wind: if the ground "radiates" it's heat during the night, why doesn't the air above it warm?
In this picture (from EasyPPL mock exam) and in a few other sources (e.g. https://www.britannica.com/science/katabatic-wind) it is stated that at night, the ground radiates heat and the air passing ...
- 13
0
votes
1
answer
38
views
Calculating pressure in high/low pressure systems
I don't understand how to calculate the surface pressure in high/low pressure systems. For example, let's say we have a planet without oceans whose surface is completely flat. Then at every point of ...
- 323
4
votes
2
answers
379
views
Can low lying clouds increase the distance of the radar reach from 18 to 120 km?
I have seen an article (sorry its Russian) claiming that low lying clouds have increased the distance of the radar reach from the normal 18 km till as far as 120 km. This allowed the military ship to ...
- 335
1
vote
0
answers
23
views
Propagation speed of isobaric mixing?
Question
So I was trying to model the following. Lets say I have a gas box where the partition box has just been removed as shown below:
Both gases are of the same species the difference being the ...
- 1,019
0
votes
0
answers
20
views
Converting Weather Data for Better Modeling
I am trying to use weather data to develop a better model for plant growth. Here is an example daily average solar insolation (W/m^2) vs cumulative daily insolation readings:
The cumulative ...
-2
votes
2
answers
47
views
Filling the empty bottle with hot air
If I were to fill the empty empty bottle with hot air, how can it be done? If I leave the bottle out in the sunny weather, will the bottle fill with hot air?
When I am filling the empty bottle with ...
5
votes
2
answers
126
views
How much solar irradiance do clouds block from reaching the Earth's surface?
Consider a fixed point in the Milankovich cycle and the solar cycle, a fixed Earth-Sun distance, and a fixed horizontal location on Earth, and assume that the Sun is at the zenith for that location. ...
- 45k
2
votes
0
answers
38
views
What would cause continuous electron buildup on the ground during a thunderstorm?
I realize that the triboelectric phenomena going on during thunderstorms is not well understood (as pointed out by xkcd here). However, on June 16 I witnessed behavior that I had never before seen ...
Buzz♦
- 14k
1
vote
1
answer
52
views
Is the cross-sectional area of a mercurial barometer standardized?
Many textbooks mention that the height of a column of mercury in a mercurial barometer is 29.92" Hg under standard atmospheric conditions.
However, they usually do not mention the diameter of ...
- 11
0
votes
0
answers
68
views
Tilted bifacial solar panels vs. flat monofacials in cloudy weather
Many articles on the internet hail the bifacials for their productivity during cloudy weather. But are they really any better than a flat monofacial solar panel?
FWIW, my setup is made of a 20° sloped ...
- 101
0
votes
1
answer
193
views
How can plots showing the mixing line for Schmidt-Appleman criterion (for aircraft contrail formation modeling) show liquid water below triple point?
In trying to understand the Schmidt-Appleman criterion for contrail formation. There is one aspect that I cannot make sense of.
In many papers that describe the criterion they include a plot as shown ...
1
vote
0
answers
35
views
Approximating the warmest time of day
I'm trying to find a very simple approximation of when the maximum air temperature will occur on a given day at a given location. By "air temperature," I just mean the air temperature at ...
- 340
0
votes
1
answer
67
views
How would a rainbow from a divergent light source look like?
Many explanations of the shape of rainbows as constant angle reflections do assume the light, incident on rain droplets, to be a parallel beam of light rays. That might for the sun-earth system be ...
- 1
4
votes
0
answers
44
views
River freezing conditions
Quite uncommon -8°C here in Hamburg at the moment I write, and I thought: Surely our local rivulet is frozen over. In retrospect this was silly, the "rivulet" is 3rd order and has a very ...
- 213
0
votes
0
answers
28
views
Temperature-Humidity-Wind (THW) index for hot and cold weather [duplicate]
Does anyone know the formula (or the algorithm, even a fortran code) to calculate the Temperature-Humidity-Wind (THW) index not from the heat index but in general? (someone published a (too simple?) ...
- 1
4
votes
1
answer
557
views
What allows this tornado to form in a frying pan?
I have just seen this video here where a mini tornado has formed in a frying pan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CJ-8ze2FjE
Does anyone know how this happens or where I can find an explanation?
- 97
0
votes
2
answers
596
views
How does the Extreme Heat of a Lightning Bolt not Kill Anyone?
Ok so, according to various different online sources, a single bolt of lightning is capable of raising the temperature of the air it rips through to... ummmmm...
50,000 degrees Fahrenheit?
What? That'...
- 111
-1
votes
1
answer
50
views
Modelling sky type as an area light source [closed]
I have a trouble understanding the mapping going on here. The author asserts that sky types can be modelled as follow :
The first one appears to represent a clear sky view, the second is more of an ...
- 113
0
votes
0
answers
84
views
How does air pressure affect the ability to create a frequency and which frequency is least attenuated
From $I=ξ^2ω^2cρ$ where ξ is the particle displacement, ω the frequency, c the speed of sound and ρ the density of the medium (1, 2), I understand that for the same frequency and amplitude the sound ...
- 1
6
votes
1
answer
227
views
Is the downforce of rain on airplanes negligible?
Is the downward pressure exerted by raindrops in even a strong storm on a lightweight aircraft negligible?
Someone better informed may likely improve the following reasoning, cobbled together from ...
0
votes
1
answer
83
views
Hurricane - trajectory in a logarithmic spiral
Let $f : [0,\infty[ \longrightarrow [0,\infty[$ be a given function and consider a particle on the plane such that
the particle starts at point $p_0$ at time $t=0$,
its trajectory $t \mapsto p_t $ is ...
- 78
1
vote
1
answer
73
views
Understanding Convectional Rainfall
Consider the following explanation of convectional rainfall given in a VII grade textbook.
When air comes in contact with the hot surface of the earth, it gets heated, becomes light and rises in the ...
- 1,369
7
votes
1
answer
252
views
Why doesn't lightning stop when it starts raining?
According to my understanding, lightning happens because the clouds get charged due to friction from the moving clouds and the ground gets polarized by the nearby charged clouds. And the two opposite ...
- 178
1
vote
0
answers
32
views
What causes Saturn's hexagon hurricane? [duplicate]
Recently, Tien Nguyen JPL Fellow - Chief Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, did share this photo that says "Cassini catches an awesome glimpse of Saturn’s north pole hurricane"
I ...
- 137
0
votes
2
answers
154
views
Is weather a phenomenon impacted by quantum randomness?
Im trying to find phenomena that impact our everyday lives that are subject to quantum randomness. And I was wondering whether weather might be one of them. Can an electron behaving slightly ...
- 21
0
votes
1
answer
161
views
Examples of phase transition nuclei whose dynamics impede their own growth?
I recently asked a question over on the Earth Science stack exchange about cumulus cloud formation from (roughly) point sources. These points can form around the same time across large areas, such as ...
- 117
0
votes
0
answers
37
views
Do tidal forces create atmospheric jet streams?
Earth's large-scale wind patterns (a.k.a. jet streams) are generally attributed to "differential heating" by the sun.
But the large-scale patterns in Earth's oceans (a.k.a. tides and tidal ...
- 882
25
votes
1
answer
4k
views
What did I just photograph? (rainbow way out of place)
I just captured the following two pictures. Straight above me, almost directly above, was a rainbow, about 120 degrees of it were visible.
The thing is, the sun was completely out, low on the horizon ...
- 933
2
votes
1
answer
66
views
What would be the most UV resistant rubber color?
I'm looking for the longest lasting speargun bands. They come in a variety of colors so I'm wondering if a certain color of rubber would help them last longer. They will be exposed to a lot of ...
- 121
3
votes
3
answers
739
views
Why don't clouds gradually evaporate and never come down as rain?
Clouds are present in the troposphere . So the radiation from the Sun first needs to pass this layer of the atmosphere to come down which means that the clouds above are constantly being radiated from ...
- 7,570
1
vote
1
answer
63
views
I know the temperature and air pressure at specific height, can I estimate the temperature at different height?
I know what the temperature is at a specific height, and I know the air pressure there.
Is it possible to estimate the temperature at a different height?
(It's a public weather station, it has an API, ...
- 113
0
votes
2
answers
177
views
Why are the tops of mountains covered with snow, but not at the bottom? [duplicate]
Why are the tops of mountains covered with snow, but not at the bottom? There is always snow even on high peaks in very hot areas. It has to be very cold at the top of the mountaintop so that the snow ...
- 366
1
vote
0
answers
69
views
Cloud got trapped over Ayu Dag mountain in Crimea
Personally I was impressed by observing a cloud got trapped over Ayu Dag mountain in Crimea, Russia on 7th April 2021. It is said that it was possible to see the cloud during a few hours, then it ...
0
votes
0
answers
64
views
Does cold dry air rich in static electricity cause the Hessdalen lights in Norway?
I have read many articles on the Hessdalen lights ( which many professional scientists think are plasmas).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hessdalen_lights
I have concluded that cold dry air rich in ...
user291777
11
votes
1
answer
298
views
Are clouds heavier than air?
Clouds are gatherings of water droplets floating in the air. Water droplets above a given size fall down as rain. But what about the water droplets forming the cloud---aren't they also heavier than ...
- 52.1k
41
votes
8
answers
8k
views
Why do small patches of snow remain on the ground many days or weeks after all the other snow has melted?
I often notice small patches of snow that remain on the ground in seemingly random locations, many days or even weeks after all other snow in an area has melted, and even when temperatures have been ...
- 519
28
votes
5
answers
7k
views
Why is the air inside an igloo warmer than its outside?
An igloo is not only used as shelter from snow but also to keep warm. Perhaps, a simple igloo is made of ice and nothing else still, why is its interior warmer than the exterior?
- 11.6k
4
votes
3
answers
916
views
Is it true that there would be no snow without dust?
I've heard from my friend that snow flake forms around the tiny dust, flying in the atmosphere. I have not found any reliable source to confirm or reject it, that's why asking here. Is that always ...
- 91
1
vote
2
answers
44
views
Why water vapors form over the surface of a water body in the morning?
I live near equator region of Earth. During winters specifically, I see water vapors forming over the surface of the water body in the morning. Why do they form?
- 29
27
votes
1
answer
507
views
What are these strange rays in the sky?
While driving, I noticed the sky had weird rays that appeared converge at some point on the horizon. I took a few pictures in hopes I could figure out what they were. There was a storm coming from ...
- 1,053
3
votes
1
answer
65
views
Why isn't thunder muted or softened by rain drops?
I watched a documentary showing how NASA applied water droplets to absorb the huge amount of sound energy when the rocket is ignited at launch. So, how come billions of rain drops don't seem to mute ...
- 11.6k
0
votes
2
answers
741
views
Can pressure gradient force be balanced by Coriolis force?
I was learning about wind from my class textbook. In that there is first a description of forces affecting the velocity and direction of wind followed by that is geostrophic wind.
My question is:
At ...
- 265
4
votes
2
answers
245
views
Explanation for an unexpected rainbow
Yesterday, I observed an unexpected rainbow in the sky. There was no forecast for rain, neither was it raining anywhere nearby. I have been trying to find an explanation but don't seem to find any. ...
- 1,783
2
votes
0
answers
310
views
Does level of pollution determine if a rainbow will be formed? [closed]
Today I saw a rainbow after almost a decade. I live in Noida (a city) in India. Most people I know believe that: we don't see rainbows nowadays because of pollution and now after nearly 3 months since ...
- 123
2
votes
2
answers
502
views
Why do my lights become brighter during a thunderstorm?
Today, during a thunderstorm, the lamps in the room suddenly flickered and then gradually became brighter in less than a second. The lamps remained brighter than normal for a few seconds before ...
- 69