#2367 "Singleton May Rain Clouds"

There is a lot of structure in what would initially appear as a simple rain cloud. One band of rain had already passed by but there was another coming on the western horizon of Singleton Lake.

These bands of rain are often missed by the somewhat coarse observation network. That is partially why I was such a big fan of remote sensing.

Radar, satellite and lightning data were my friends. The internal structure of the warm conveyor belt and the storm could be discerned in that information. One could see and interpret all of the details in the patterns. Vortices and deformation zones also are apparent in the radar images as precipitation is an important subset of the cloud and moisture fields. When this information is assimilated into a conceptual model, one could also anticipate what might happen in the future. That is the basis of prediction.

The other most important reason I enjoyed remote sensing is that you did not have to get wet or place yourself in harms way to use it in the science of meteorology. Everyone might want to see a tornado before they die, but not just before they die.

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