Solar Tornadoes

Can you imagine what it would be like to experience this? These solar twisters were seen by NASA. These "tornadoes" were caught on NASA's high definition video when recording the sun.

"The sun tornado video shows swirling fountains of plasma creeping across the sun during a 30-hour period between Feb. 7 and 8. But unlike tornadoes on Earth, which are wind-driven phenomena, the sun's plasma tornadoes are shaped by the powerful magnetic field of our [sun]" (Space.com).



Can you imagine trying to forecast this? Wow!

~Meteorologist Heather Brinkmann

Eerie Fog

With fog prevalent for the past couple of mornings in northern Illinois, I thought it was only appropriate to show that you are not alone.

The view above is along Panama City Beach, Florida. Yes, even the luxurious beaches in the United States gets fog too. It is actually quite a special circumstance that this fog is occurring. What is happening is that Panama City Beach is experiencing very fluid onshore flow off of the Gulf of Mexico. When this happens, the flow of the air moves towards these high rise buildings and the pressure drops. This, in turn, results in condensation which is seen as fog. The air continues to be pushed up and over the buildings. Then, just like it started, returns near the ground.


A little eerie, isn't it?


~Meteorologist Heather Brinkmann