Ticker for February 1, 2002

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
February 1, 2002   February 1, 2002   February 1, 2002   February 1, 2002


Some Incredible Mesonet Photos

Mesonet Project Manager Chris Fiebrich and Senior Instrumentation
Meteorologist David Grimsley just returned from the road, where they've
been collecting data from sites that lost communication this week.
They've returned with Mesonet data and some stunning photos.

The following photos were taken at the Kingfisher Mesonet site:



The second picture has some amazing details:

First, that big finger extending up from the beam is solid ice built
up on a tiny plastic twist tie!

Second, the wind sentry shows evidence of icicles forming in two
directions: laterally and downward.  The lateral icicles formed first,
while the sentry was still spinning (amazing that it lasted so long!).
As the sentry spun, centripetal accelaration slung drops laterally,
where they froze.  Eventually, the sentry was frozen motionless, where
the large vertical icicles formed in the traditional manner.

Third, notice that the eastern fence (in the background) was a solid
sheet of ice five feet high!

David and Chris will soon compile a report, with many more photos
and details about the impact on instrumentation and observations.


Another Picture

With the week's icy events, The Ticker didn't get a chance to address
some of the wind data we promised late last week.  We'll get to that
next week!  Today, just a neat picture from a few thousand miles away.

Snow and clouds can often look alike on a satellite image.  There are
two time-tested ways to locate the snow:

1. In movies, snow cover doesn't move.  Clouds move.
2. In still photos, snow pack is carved up by rivers.  Clouds aren't.

Check out the Beaver River (OK Panhandle), Canadian River (TX Panhandle),
Arkansas (CO and KS), Platte (NE), and a whole bunch of Iowa streams
in this picture: