Tree branches and lawn furniture were no match for the winds late this morning and early afternoon. Gusts measured above tropical storm force in Freeport as storms exited the region from west to east.After analyzing the pattern of the wind and direction we have determined that this was a rare event called a "wake low." It's basically a very small area of low pressure right behind the band of rain. Winds in excess of 40mph accompanied the low. Temperatures fell dramatically as the wake low brought winds down from higher elevations.
Luckily for us, wake lows are very brief. Winds subsided within an hour. Temperatures rebounded an hour after that.
NOTE: Wake lows are similar in nature to wake turbulence brought on by large airplanes.
AMS DEFINITIONS:
wake low - (Or wake depression.) In meteorology, a surface low pressure area or mesolowsquall line; most commonly found in squall lines with trailing stratiform precipitation regions, in which case the axis of the low is positioned near the back edge of the stratiform rain area.
wake turbulence - A disruption of airflow caused by the passage of a body through the air. In aviation, wake turbulence has been known to cause upset of an aircraft following another.
3 comments:
This year has certainly been a very interesting weather year. Seems like we have had a lot of rare weather related events.
So is this event kind of what happened last Friday in south rockford by chance? or was it just a side effect from a storm cell?
jim: it could have been. last friday was more of an outflow incidence...todays was definitely a wake low.
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