Almost Hurricane Arthur

In honor of 2014's first soon-to-be hurricane in the Atlantic, here is a post on Arthur...

First, a view of Arthur from space...

Terra Satellite

Aqua Satellite

Hurricanes are classified by the Saffir-Simpson Scale as a function of wind speed. A tropical storm becomes a category one hurricane when the sustained winds exceed 74 mph.

Arthur will likely become a category one hurricane late Thursday night and early Friday. Its predicted path will ride up the North Carolina coastline bringing strong winds and heavy rain.

Meanwhile, Virginia is experiencing some exciting thunderstorms this evening. I love watching clouds boil like this...
 


And here are some pictures of lightning in New York at this same time (link).

Weather in Utah has been a bit boring. We are sitting under a ridge of high pressure and it's very dry. We're also dealing with high ozone levels. We need a good storm to push it all out.

Along the Utah Nevada border there are pockets of bubbling cumulus clouds. I like to call these types of clouds "Toy Story Clouds."

Terra Satellite

Aqua Satellite