Hurricanes- Warm Weather Revenge

Have you ever thought about how violent cold weather can be?  When a cold front moves in, it causes wind, precipitation and storms.  The weather up to that point was probably pretty tranquil, but the rush of cold air does not enter peacefully.  It clashes with the warmer air, bullying it farther to the south and usually out to sea.  On the flip side is the warm front which usually slides up gently, nudging the temps up and bringing calmer weather in.  So then it would appear that warm air just hangs out and does it’s thing until colder air rushes in to confront it.  Usually rain, snow or tornadoes are the end result of the clash and the warm air gets the short end of the stick.  Not true with hurricanes.  Hurricanes develop in warm water and usually head north to spread their fury.  It’s like warm air is saying, “take that, you cold air bully”.  No wonder hurricanes pack such a powerful punch; it’s payback for the relentless cold fronts with their sidekick low pressure systems that roll through the northern hemisphere twelve months out of the year.

Rain: Feast or Famine

In many areas of the country a deluge of rain has set in after many months of drought or near-drought conditions.  The recent flooding in Texas has been the most notable.  In Virginia some regions have seen more rain in the last two days than in the last two months.  The penchant for weather to come in training patterns over the same areas is well documented.  If it’s been dry it will tend to stay that way for a period.  The same is true for rainy patterns.   It’s not difficult to see how that might happen. It takes moisture to form clouds and when the ground in dry not much escapes into the atmosphere.  On the other end of the spectrum, wet systems driven over the same areas by persistent jet stream setups fuel their own torrential downpours.  Naturally this is more likely to happen in the spring when cold air fights to stay in control as the warm weather advances.  Everything eventually changes on the weather front though so one day, sooner rather than later, Texas will dry out and California will be fighting landslides and rising creeks.