Feb
26.
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A difficult weather quiz question goes unanswered.
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Sorry no winner this week. Here again is my weekly weather quiz question. What is a fire tornado? Here is the answer in great detail since it’s probably something you have never heard of. A fire whirl, colloquially fire devil or fire tornado, is a rarely captured phenomenon in which a fire, under certain conditions (depending on air temperature and currents), acquires a vertical vorticity and forms a whirl, or a tornado-like vertically oriented rotating column of air. Fire whirls may be whirlwinds separated from the flames, either within the burn area or outside it, or a vortex of flame, itself. An extreme example is the 1923 Great Kant? earthquake in Japan which ignited a large city-sized firestorm and produced a gigantic fire whirl that killed 38,000 in fifteen minutes in the Hifukusho-Ato region of Tokyo.[1] Another example is the numerous large fire whirls (some tornadic) that developed after lightning struck an oil storage facility near San Luis Obispo, California on April 7, 1926, several of which produced significant structural damage well away from the fire, killing two. Thousands of whirlwinds were produced by the four-day-long firestorm coincident with conditions that produced severe thunderstorms, in which the larger fire whirls carried debris 5 kilometers away.
[2] Most of the largest fire tornados are spawned from wildfires. They form when a warm updraft and convergence from the wildfire are present.[3] They are usually 10-50 meters tall, a few meters wide, and last only a few minutes. However, some can be more than a kilometer tall, contain winds over 160 km/h, and persist for more than 20 minutes.[4]
I’ll have a new weekly weather quiz question for you beginning next Monday. Please post your answer as a comment by clicking on “no comments” in the upper right hand portion of this page under the caption, then add your comment. The first person to post the correct answer will win a week of free personalized weather forecasts tailored to your needs. The answer has to be a comment to win. An email answer will not count.
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The jet stream shows a cold trough of low pressure ( “U” shaped area) pushed down and brought winter weather with it. A burst of cold Arctic air has dropped in behind another cold front that slid down from the North. A weak high pressure has cleared us out for part of the weekend at least. Be careful driving on roadways that still have the remnants of snow or ice on them because they will be slippery. Low pressure will move back in and bring precipitation with it for next week.
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Advisories: A WINTER STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON FOR THE NORTH COAST RANGE OF OREGON, THE NORTH CASCADE FOOTHILLS, AND THE NORTH CASCADES (NOT INCLUDING THE CASCADES OF LANE COUNTY). A FREEZE WATCH IS IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING FOR THE SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTH OREGON COAST.
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Here are your detailed forecasts. **
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Forecast for the Southern and lower Mid Willamette Valley including Eugene-Springfield and Albany-Corvallis: Sunny this morning, just partly cloudy this afternoon, mostly cloudy with a (30%) chance of rain and snow returning tonight (not as cold), rain and snow likely (60%) early Sunday changing to rain likely (60%) by late morning continuing in the afternoon (1 in. of snow possible in the AM) and breezy (wind: S 10-15 mph increasing to S 15-25 mph in the afternoon), rain likely (60%) Sunday night (0.50 in. of rain possible), rain Monday (0.50 in. of rain possible), then showers likely (60%) Monday night highs 38-45 lows 27-37. Mostly cloudy with showers likely (60%) Tuesday, rain likely (60%) Tuesday night through Thursday night, then mostly cloudy with a (40%) chance of rain Friday highs 47-44 lows 36-32. (seasonal averages high 53 low 36)
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Forecast for the Umpqua Basin including, Roseburg: Sunny today, mostly clear this evening, cloudy with a (40%) chance of rain and snow late tonight, cloudy with a good (50%) chance of rain and snow Sunday (snow level 1,000 ft.), rain and snow likely (60%) Sunday night (snow level 2,000 ft.), rain and snow and breezy (wind: S 15-25 mph) Monday, rain and snow Monday night and Tuesday, and rain likely (60%) Tuesday night highs 39-49 lows 26-37. Mostly cloudy with rain Wednesday, showers Wednesday night, showers likely (60%) Thursday and Thursday night, then rain and snow likely (60%) Friday highs 46-50 lows near 35. (seasonal averages high 57 low 37)
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Forecast for the South Oregon Coast including Coos Bay and North Bend: Sunny today, mostly clear this evening, then cloudy, a (40%) chance of coastal rain late tonight, a (30%) chance of rain and snow late inland (snow level 500 ft.), coastal rain likely (60%) Sunday, a good (50%) chance of rain inland (snow level 1,500 ft.), and rain likely (60%) Sunday night and windy (wind: S 20-30 mph), rain Monday through Tuesday night highs 42-50 lows 32-40. Mostly cloudy with rain Wednesday, showers Wednesday night, showers likely (60%) Thursday and Thursday night, then mostly cloudy with rain likely (60%) Friday highs 48-46 lows near 38. (seasonal averages high 55 low 41).
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Forecast for the Cascades of Lane County: Mostly sunny this AM, partly cloudy in the afternoon, mostly cloudy with a slight (20%) chance of snow in the evening, a (40%) chance of snow late tonight, snow likely (60%) Sunday (1-3 in. of snow possible) and breezy (wind: SW 10-15 mph increasing increasing to SW 15-25 mph in the afternoon), snow likely (60%) Sunday night (3-6 in. of snow possible) and breezy (wind: SW 15-25 mph), snow Monday (6-10 in. of snow possible) and breezy (wind: SW 15-25 mph gusts to 40 mph in the afternoon), then snow showers Monday night free air freezing level at the surface today, snow level at the surface tonight through Monday night highs 25-29 lows 17-25. Mostly cloudy with rain and snow showers Tuesday, snow and rain likely (60%) Tuesday night, rain and snow Wednesday, then snow likely (60%) Wednesday night through Friday snow level 2,500 ft. Tuesday, 3,000 ft. Tuesday night, 4,000 ft. Wednesday, falling to the surface Wednesday night through Friday highs 30-35 lows 26-20.
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**Because weather forecasting is a combination of science, intuition, and timing there can be no absolute guarantees that individual forecasts will be 100% accurate. Nature is in a constant state of flux and sudden unexpected weather events can happen.