|
Sail: Weather links: Stormwatch: La
Nina: Profiles: Surf: Sky: Polar: Ocean: Fire: Drought: Weatherfacts: Books: Products: |
Atlantic trends 18 hours of animated surface
pressure Image courtesy of Intellicast. From the first frame, on November 9 0600gmt, you might notice plenty of cloud over the eastern North Atlantic and over the equator. In fact, there is a lot less cloud cover - and thus less moisture in the upper atmosphere - than 24 hours previous, when storms well to the north were hammering Europe. Watch how the clouds seem to evaporate over the eastern Atlantic and equator as the animated image moves through six hour intervals to November 10, 1200gmt. This might indicate a slow-down in 'active' weather, leaving skippers to negotiate lighter airs as they head towards the doldrums. Note that Bob Rice says less cloud above the equator indicates less wind in the doldrums. However, he also says that things change awfully quickly down along the line, and plenty of thunderstorm activity over west Africa at the moment might prelude another active Inter Tropical Convergence Zone. Meanwhile, the stationary low in the west Atlantic has been a feature for weeks and is a remnant of a trough of low pressure that hung over that corner of the ocean all summer. Some years it is located further west. This year, it is doing a nice job of blocking normal weather patterns, both high and low pressure - making routing a challenge for Vendee Globe skippers. © weather-wise.com 2000 |