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Weather
Notes....
(From
Charlie Anzman,
CASI Member and author of Pike
Pennsylvania DOT COM) Some
of you may be wondering what those ominous cloud formations over the
area were on Thursday.
We were too.
So I contacted
our friend (and Pike Weather Station LinkPartner)
Meterologist
Jesse Ferrell at CASI - the non-profit
Central Atlantic Storm
Investigators at State College...
for some comments
Here's some of what he had to say:
(It's important to note Jesse
has been here for about 2 years)
"The storm is over
here in (St College) PA. It left me with the highest wind gust (47mph)
and lowest pressure (29.07"Hg) here since I have lived here. This
morning near-blizzard conditions were observed, with snow, high winds,
and blowing and drifting snow. I have not seen such weather since the
Blizzard of 1993 in North Carolina. Although the snowfall here in
State College was a mere 5", and we had a foot twice last year,
the winds were relatively calm at that time. If you heard a loud
repeating sounds emanating from PA today that was me kicking myself
for not bringing my video camera to work with me. The scenes were
amazing. Snow blew and drifted across the roadways in large sheet
reducting visibility to zero at times. Hundreds of snow vortices were
observed; a large 40 foot vortex moved slowly across the field near
work at lunchtime. Both flags on the pole at work were torn severely
and had to be taken down. Lightpoles swayed in the wind, diagonal
highway signs batted back and forth like it was a hurricane."
We asked for a further explanation of what Jesse referred to
as 'Snow Vortices'
"Similar in shape and size to "whirlwinds",
what I call snow vortices are swirling areas of snow which usually
last for only a few seconds. I have seen them be no bigger than a
person but sometimes 10's of feet across and high. They are most
easily explained as eddies in the wind flow around buildings or other
objects, which are often present in high winds normally ("whirlwinds"
are often spotted in the fall when leaves get caught up in a swirl at
the corner of building complexes or shopping centers) but the
snowflakes allow them to be seen with detail."
So...if
your were wondering....that's the 'scoop'
....Charlie
PS: I've been working with the CASI group on the Net for a long time.
Over
500 members now and growing!....
around the world, they do an
incredible job, on a volunteer basis.
They were active (as
were we!) on the Internet,
helping to pass traffic to loved ones,
and report on Hurricanes Georges and Mitch this year, as well as
reporting hour by hour on the 'out-of-place' Tornadoes that came
through here last year.
The group is open to amateurs and
professional weather buffs
(Link is above)
Thanks J !
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