A Very Unstable Spring Atmosphere

Spring is the time when our local atmosphere is most unstable, often percolating in upward and downward motions like hot cereal in your stove-top saucepan.

The visual expression of such unstable motions is cumulus convection, ranging from relatively benign fair-weather cumulus to towering cumulonimbus.  

On Tuesday, the atmosphere became unstable and a full range of cumulus clouds was evident.

During the afternoon, relatively shallow cumulus clouds had formed by 2 PM (see below from the Seattle PanoCam on the Space Needle).  No precipitation was evident underneath them.

By 5 PM, following afternoon surface heating, vertical turrets start to form, indicating greater instability and vertical development.

The 6 PM image showed even more vertical development and the formation of two cirrus anvils (the flat, elongated objects at the top of the image.)

30 minutes later the anvils had explored in size.  Very impressive!  It was raining underneath the big cumulus clouds and lightning was observed

Cumulus clouds like this are a sign of vertical instability driven by large temperature changes in the vertical.

Stability 101

Most of the time the atmosphere is stable.   You push some air upwards and it comes back down.

But if the temperature declines with height rapidly enough, the situation changes.    In this case,  a displaced air parcel can accelerate upwards.   

The explanation for this behavior is something we describe in detail in my department's classes, but the essential point is this:

When temperature cools rapidly with height it becomes easier for an air parcel to be warmer and less dense than the surrounding air.  And such warm/less dense air parcels tend to be buoyant and rise.

Think of a hot-air balloon! (see below)

Here in the Pacific Northwest, the change in temperature with height is greatest during the spring.  That is why this is the best time of the year to see impressive cumulus clouds.

But why spring, you ask?

During the spring, after a long winter, the temperatures aloft are quite cold...in fact, the coldest of the year.  To show this, below are the temperatures around 10,000 ft (700 hPa pressure) at Forks, WA, on the NW coast.

Lowest temperatures in March and April.  Quite cold in early May.

While temperatures are cold aloft, solar heating is getting very strong now, particularly on days without extensive clouds.  Below is the plot of solar radiation reaching the surface in Seattle for the last year.  Getting pretty strong lately.    Keep you sunscreen handy.

May 2 sun is roughly as intense as early August!

So with strong heating at the surface and cool temperatures aloft, there is often a very large change in temperature with height during early spring, which fosters lots of cumulus clouds....from shallow ones to deep thunderstorm clouds.  

Just to drive the point home, here is a plot of the change in observed temperature with height (termed the lapse rate) at Forks/Quillayute between the surface and 3 km (about 10,000 ft).    Very high this time of the year.

Finally, you can see the growth of cumulus during the day produced by increasing temperature change with height.   Let's start with the visible satellite image over eastern Washington on Wednesday morning around 8 AM.  No clouds over the Columbia Basin.

By 2 PM, with plenty of solar heating at the surface, the temperature change with height is greatly enhanced and instability has developed, leading to lots of cumulus clouds.

toweromg 

The Hamas Encampment at the UW: A Sad Collection of Ignorant, Virtue-Signaling, Law-Breaking Students Enabled by a Weak UW Administration

Update

The UW Hamas encampment has tripled in size.

Jewish students have been attacked and had items stolen from them.

Media representatives have been attached and bloodied.

Major pathways have been blocked.

All of this is documented on video. Where is the UW administration?  Why do we have to follow the path of Columbia and UCLA?

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The hapless anti-Israel encampment finally occurred yesterday at the UW and it would be hard to find a more ineffective, ignorant, and morally lacking group of university students.  

Originally scheduled for last Thursday, the whole affair had to be delayed because Muslim students were angered that they were not asked to participate and plan the event by the Progressive Student Union.  And when the camp was finally established yesterday morning on wet/muddy ground it was raining hard and continued to rain during the day.

Only a handful of tents were set up, the pro-Hamas activists numbered perhaps a dozen or two at the peak, with most UW students taking little notice.   Many of the anti-Israel crowd wore masks to avoid identification, like many lawbreakers.  Some were screaming  (at a student who was quietly holding an Israeli flag) in ways that suggested some kind of mental affliction.

These students were breaking the law.  Encampments are illegal on the UW campus and warning signs were placed around the quad, with the specific regulation cited (see below) 

I have passed the encampment several times and have never seen even a single member of the UW Police force in the area.

This encampment interfered with instruction in the many classrooms facing the quad due to the blaring noise from their bullhorns and loud music.  Some of the student bouncers were physically blocking individuals taking pictures.

The Hamas activists called for the destruction of the State of Israel (from the river to sea, Palestine will be free chants) and global violence (Global Intifada).  But they had particular hate for President Biden and the Democratic Party, with frequent screams of "Biden, Biden You Can't Hide, You are Guilty of Genocide".

The Democratic party was considered far right for many folks in this group.  Some wore Communist Party shirts while others held signs for the Revolutionary Workers Party (see below).

Some of the signs called for violence against police, which I suspect is illegal (see below).

But it was the stunning ignorance and lack of historical knowledge that really was shocking. 

 I calmly asked one the the folks in the yellow jackets why he was against Israel.  He told me that the Jews were colonialists. I calmly told him that he was incorrect. That the Jews were in the land for at least 3000 years and that the Arabs were the recent conquerors.  He told me that I was wrong, that there were no Jews in the region until the 1900s.  I noted that Jews were noted in both versions of the bible.  He countered that the bible was mythology.  I noted that Roman literature talked about Israel and there was definitive archeological proof.  He then walked away.

Some people call these Hamas supporters Nazis.   I can't agree.  They are so poorly grounded in history that I suspect they don't even know about the Nazis.  Or know about the Holocaust. 

They are ignorant.  They are foolish.  These are kids without meaning in their lives and trying to secure some meaning by screaming slogans about a conflict they don't understand.  Many appear to be outcasts or odd.  Kind of a sad group.  

I am not as charitable regarding the UW administration.

The encampment was illegal and notice was given.  But when this criminal activity occurred, an activity that interfered with the education of hundreds of students, the UW administration did nothing.

This is after many of the same students disrupted university functions a half-dozen times with bullhorns and drums.

Criminal destruction in the UW HUB

After they took over the Administration Building and the President's office.

After they disrupted the Chanukah celebration on Red Square.

And after they trashed the student union building, causing tens of thousands of dollars of damage.

All good parents learn that children will test authority and that being permissive for anti-social behavior leads to even worse behavior.

The pro-Hamas UW students are no different.  These are kids who don't have internal moral or ethical values and need to be taught that inappropriate and hurtful behavior has consequences.

Their near-complete lack of knowledge of history and society further cripples them.

The UW administration seems determined to follow the disastrous policies of Columbia and Harvard, which is a tragedy for the University and the region it serves.