Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Outflow Boundaries Rock!

As a weather geek, there are certain things that really get me excited . One phenomenon is seeing Outflow Boundaries on radar! In the above image (click to enlarge), we had a severe storm in Crittenden County that had just weakened. As the air collapsed within the storm, an Outflow Boundary formed and moved away from the storm (especially West.) The outflow boundary is the line moving away from West Memphis in all directions. If you look closely, you can see a couple of boundaries. There is another distinct one crossing the Mississippi River. The lines on the radar image are not caused by rain, but by the bugs, dust, and debris from the gust of wind! Cool, huh?!?!

Have a great night,
Ryan

3 comments:

Andrew said...

That is pretty cool, but it would have been awesome if the bugs and dust were blown EAST away from Region 8.

Jason H said...

They do kick butt, but I have a question......How does the radar pick them up, is it wind or clouds ???

Ryan said...

Jason... neither actually. The radar sends out it's "waves" and some of the waves bounce back from the debris (bugs and dust) and appear as radar echoes. That's how it detects rain, too.