I was honored to be invited to speak to the University of South Alabama meteorology department last Wednesday in Mobile, and while I was down there I added another stop on the UAH Gravity Wave Tour at the National Weather Service office in Mobile. Univ. South Al. really has a growing program, and I got to see Jeff Medlin, the Science and Operations officer at NWS Mobile. He’s an old friend and one of those true weather guys who, while he is on the cutting edge with technology (they run their own 4 km WRF, for example), could go back to the 1950’s without models and forecast based on upper air charts.
Being that close, and it having been two years since I’d seen the Gulf of Mexico, we spent a couple of nights at Orange Beach. My first time since Ivan. Everything looks great. One can still see the trunks of trees with the leaves blown off, but other than that, I wouldn’t know a hurricane went through there 4 years ago. I didn’t know the area real well before as I greq up going to Panama City, but the Alabama Gulf Coast was mighty nice.
I’ve attached some pictures. Just click to enlarge.
Something the National Weather Service people at Mobile pointed out to me on their radar was fascinating. It’s apparently there a lot, with the land down there fairly flat. See if you notice it.
This is a velocity image from the Doppler radar, which detects the speed of radar echoes moving toward or away from the radar. The radar beam runs almost right along the I-10 bridge in the eastern part of Mobile Bay, and on I-10 into Baldwin County. The high speeds you see showing up, which would normally be wind speeds shown by rain drops, are actually cars on the highway! Here is a zoomed in picture.
Will they start using this to catch you speeding? Not likely. Some of these echoes may be several cars at once, and the average speed is being shown.
