Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Much Needed Rain for Some Lucky Folks...


A lucky few that happened to get underneath one of the above thunderstorms late this afternoon received some much needed rain.  I measured just under one-half inch in my rain gauge at the house near Kyle through 6pm.

Take a closer look at the above radar image and see if you can identify any "outflow boundaries".  An outflow boundary is kind of like a mini-cold front, marking a zone of cooler air blowing out away from a thunderstorm, into warmer and more humid air ahead of it.  I've noted a few in the next image below:



On a day like this, it might actually be easier to point out where there aren't any outflow boundaries....instead of where they are!

These boundaries are important in that they can focus additional thunderstorm development along and ahead of the features.  As the evening wears on and the atmosphere cools, it is less likely that additional development will take place.  But for now, if you are out ahead of one of these boundaries and it hasn't rained where you are just yet...keep your fingers crossed and you just might benefit from one of the mini cool fronts.

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