It's Raining Fish and Spiders (34 page)

Some major Pacific Northwest storms have been stronger and caused more damage than a lot of hurricanes. Extra-tropical lows can match a Category 3 hurricane in both minimum central pressures and sustained wind speeds. Such storms have a reach far beyond that of a typical hurricane: they can throw a cold rain into the Alaska Panhandle while pummeling the San Francisco Bay Area with a warm, saturated gale.

Some of these storms have been given very cool names. A couple of the biggest blasts to strike the Pacific Northwest are the “Storm King of 1880” and the “Columbus Day ‘Big Blow' of 1962.” The term
blowdown
is used to describe a record Northwest windstorm, one that knocks over 1 billion or more board feet of timber. Some blowdowns have wiped out more than 10 billion board feet.

Damage caused by the Columbus Day “Big Blow”
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce

These blowdowns happen every 30 to 40 years. The 1962 Columbus Day storm was the last big blowdown; it destroyed 11 to 15 million board feet of timber. That's an awfully large number of trees!

Not only do these storms have Category 3 hurricane-force winds, they also produce tons of rain and snow. During the “Storm King of 1880,” some areas received 4 feet of snow, causing roofs to collapse!

You Are My Sunshine, My
Only
Sunshine!

There would be no “us” if it were not for the sun. I worship the sun just as many ancient cultures did. The sun warms the Earth, makes plants grow, makes the weather, and is absolutely necessary for life.

Scientists say the sun is more than 4.5 billion years old, and will last billions more. The sun is a star just like the ones we see at night—except it's a lot closer. Like all stars, the sun is a collection of gases, mainly helium and hydrogen, and works like a giant nuclear reactor.

The sun's core is a nuclear furnace where gravity pulls all mass inward, creating immense pressure. That pressure causes nuclear fusion reactions between hydrogen atoms, which then become helium atoms. These reactions give off a huge amount of heat, estimated at 27 million degrees.

Frank Picini

The radiation zone is the layer above the core where energy is carried outward by gamma rays. Hydrogen and other atoms absorb and emit gamma rays millions of times, and the energy from that cycle is transformed into ultraviolet light.

NASA

The convection zone is the outermost 30 percent of the sun. It is dominated by convection currents that carry energy to the surface. It's sort of like when you open a bottle of club soda and the bubbles race to the top.

The layer of the sun we see is the photosphere, the temperature of which is about 11,000ºF (6,093°C). It appears bubbly, like the simmering surface of a pot of water.

The chromosphere lies above the surface of the sun, but we can't see it because of the photosphere's brightness. It's believed that convection is caused in the chromosphere due to the underlying photosphere, resulting in 180,000 degrees of heat!

The corona is the final layer of the sun. It extends several million miles out from the photosphere and is most noticeable in X-rays of the sun and during solar eclipses. The corona is the white part around the sun you see in an eclipse. Scientists believe that the magnetism of the sun enables the corona to reach its amazing temperature of 5 million degrees Fahrenheit (2,777,760°C)!

Sunspots, the cool dark areas on the sun, are intense magnetic fields. They can be five times the size of the Earth. They are a little cooler than the photosphere at 7,600ºF (4,204°C)! Sunspots always appear in pairs and come in 11-year cycles called the
solar cycle.

NASA

The Light, the Light, I Can't Stop Moving Toward the Light!

Solar flares are violent explosions that are caused by sudden changes in the sun's magnetic field. Flares are made up of ultraviolet light, X-rays, gas, and electrons. When this blast of radiation hits the Earth's magnetic field, it interacts with the North and South poles to produce the aurora borealis. Solar flares disrupt communications, satellites, navigation systems, and power grids. They've even caused blackouts!

Hey, That Cloud Looks Like a Pony!

Did you know you can forecast the weather by looking at the clouds? You can! Some clouds indicate fair and beautiful weather, while others indicate trouble ahead.

I love looking at clouds. You should go outside, to a yard, a patio, a deck, or a big open field, lie on your back, and look at the sky.

I will never forget the time I freaked out my four kids while we were at the beach because I knew the clouds. I didn't know the clouds personally, I just knew what different clouds meant. You can, too!

We were at Greenwich Beach in Connecticut, when I noticed a cumulonimbus cloud whose updrafts were starting to billow the cloud up into the summer sky. The cloud was situated over land to our east, and as the hot summer day wore on, I noticed that the cloud was starting to drift a bit westward, toward us. The sun was behind us, keeping everything bright and hot, and no one else noticed the cloud in the haze above Long Island Sound.

I gathered the kids together and said, “We have to get to the car, it's going to blast down rain in about two minutes.” In total disbelief, eyes rolling, my wife and kids picked up the beach chairs and towels, and headed for the car. No one else was leaving the beach but us. Just as we got everything and everyone in the car,
Ka-boom, Blammo, Ker-Pow!
Lightning cracked the sky, a big clap of thunder sent a shock wave over the beach, and a torrent of rain fell from the “cumulo-monster.” People were screaming and running from the beach. About 10 minutes later, when my family picked their jaws up off the floor of the car, a faint voice asked, “How did you know that?”

Rapunzel, Let Down Thy Locks of Cirrus So I May Climb to the Sky!

To me, cirrus clouds are the most beautiful of all clouds. Their name comes from the Latin for “lock of hair” and they are delicate wisps of ice that appear high in the heavens. They are the highest of the ten main cloud types at 24,000 feet. Some of the wisps have curls or hooks, and look like what's called
mare's tails.
Cirrus clouds tell us there is going to be fair weather and little in the way to block the sun!

Amber Waves of Clouds…

Billow clouds look like ocean waves. They are generally created by wind shear, which occurs either when winds at different levels are blowing in slightly different directions, or are of different strengths. The turbulent, rotary motion between the waves gives them their unique look.

That Is One Bad Mama Jama!

Cumulonimbus clouds are the monsters of the midway. They are also called
thunderheads
. They are the king of the cloud jungle and can tower as high as 55,000 to 60,000 feet. Really nasty ones, called super cells, can create life-threatening conditions. Gusty straight-line winds, flooding rains, lightning, hail, and tornadoes are the usual suspects with these bad boys.

Dude, I See a Martian in That Cloud!

Lenticular clouds are the favorites of the UFO crowd. They are shaped like spaceships and many people who believe in aliens think these clouds are formed by alien spaceships. Lenticular clouds are really formed when a stable layer of air is forced to rise over hills or mountain peaks. Their smoothness is quite striking, and upon close examination, you can see they form on the leading edge of a mountain and dissipate on the downward side of a mountain.

That Leprechaun Dude Is Lurking!!

Rainbows are one of the most gorgeous meteorological phenomena. When I see them, it gives me a warm feeling of goodness and hope; I know that all is right with the world.

Rainbows appear when the sun is behind us and falling rain is in front of us. The rainbow's spectrum is caused by sunlight shining through raindrops or droplets of moisture. The light is refracted as it enters the surface of the raindrop, then reflected off the back of the drop, and refracted again as it leaves the drop.

Frank Picini

The colors of the rainbow are, beginning at the top, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Very rarely, a secondary rainbow is seen, a touch fainter with the colors in the opposite order, with violet on the top and red on the bottom. I saw this once myself in the mountains of Tucson, Arizona. The two rainbows were awesome looking!