Weather Blogging

This satellite image struck me as interesting. It's from about 8:00 this morning, and it shows the Pacific, northern Baja California, a bit of Arizona, and Southern California in the center portion. The mass of clouds over the Pacific is the "marine layer" and, as is common this time of year, it extends pretty well inland. We are right at the edge of it at the moment, and the sun is just starting to peek through the edge of it as I write. When the desert gets a little warmer the marine layer will extend farther inland and will remain there pretty much all day, giving us "May Gray" and "June Gloom" weather.

Notice how smooth the marine layer is out at sea and the eddies at the coast. That's pretty typical, and it's caused by the air movement past Point Conception to the north.

What's interesting, though is that batch of clouds over eastern San Diego and western Imperial counties. There is a plume of moist air flowing from southwest to northeast which is, of course, not seen in this visible satellite image. When that moist air hits the mountains it is lifted up and those clouds are formed. The sharp beginning of the cloud formation and the degree to which it streams to the northeast suggests that the air is quite moist and that the upper level air stream is moving pretty fast. The limits of the cloud formation also illustrate that the plume of moisture is quite narrow. I love stuff like this.

If it bores you, you can just scroll down and read about the cat.