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Re: You are kiting and you see these clouds: what do you do?

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 2:52 am
by naishkiter10882
well f*uck im glad we didnt get a tornado in long island i was rele scared for that..

the rele bad thing about the cloud and squall is that none of it was reported... thanks ikitesurf.com

this was a very sudden storm..

Re: You are kiting and you see these clouds: what do you do?

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 2:03 pm
by RickI
Storm warnings did go out on NWS in this case. You can't count on these warnings to be given in all cases however. A storm cloud 3 miles in diameter can hammer you with winds to 40, 50, 60 mph or higher. Met services rarely fixate on such small clouds unless the radar return shows a substantial risk of tornados. For every one of those what vast quantity of limited storm clouds are never mentioned?

It is up to us. Check the Internet before your session and keep your eyes open throughout your time at the beach. Doing one without the other puts you in the category of those cows lowing in the field waiting for that lightning strike. Use the tools.

Re: You are kiting and you see these clouds: what do you do?

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 7:15 pm
by alkiter
You might also want to wait a while for one of these to go by, St. Augustine beach, May 22, 2008

Re: You are kiting and you see these clouds: what do you do?

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:16 pm
by RickI
Funny thing about waterspouts, you can have them with the normal, narly "gonna wind blast you" storm clouds. These occur in many parts of the world, see below. Then again, particularly in South Florida, perhaps further north in summer and especially the middle Keys, they can pop down in partially cloudy sunny weather from a not real threatening "appearing" cumulous clouds. I was thinking these are "fair weather waterspouts" and strangely enough that is was NWS calls them. More at: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/hazards/inf ... spouts.php

I used to worry about them doing boat tow hang gliding down in Biscayne Bay of both varieties. I recall once having three in sight a couple of miles away during one tow years back. Also used to worry about them while free diving well offshore in summer. What are you going to do if one comes over and vacuums you up, out swim it?

Here's a bit about what NWS has to say about them:

Waterspout Safety
Listen for special marine warnings about waterspout sightings that are broadcast on NOAA Weather Radio.
Watch the sky for certain types of clouds. In the summer, with light winds, look for a possible waterspout underneath a line of cumulus clouds with dark, flat bases. Anytime of the year, a thunderstorm or line of thunderstorms, can produce very intense waterspouts.
If a waterspout is sighted, immediately head at a 90 degree angle from the apparent motion of the waterspout.
Never try to navigate through a waterspout. Although waterspouts are usually weaker than tornadoes, they can still produce significant damage to you and your boat.


Lampu put this up from several years ago from Colonia, Uruguay. I would say these are not the fair weather variety of waterspouts. They have some intense weather down that way:

Image
From: viewtopic.php? ... &view=next


Here is a good video clip of a waterspout in Miami brought in by some heavy weather.
[youtube]DRybHOPb6oM[/youtube]
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DRybHOPb6oM

Re: You are kiting and you see these clouds: what do you do?

Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:11 pm
by naishkiter10882
What kind of clouds are these? im thinking cumulus? theyre producing and killing wind all day today.

Re: You are kiting and you see these clouds: what do you do?

Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:27 pm
by naishkiter10882
just started blwing 15-20

Re: You are kiting and you see these clouds: what do you do?

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:57 pm
by naishkiter10882
um, someone lol?

Re: You are kiting and you see these clouds: what do you do?

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:15 pm
by Tom183
I would say those clouds have a lot of potential and would need to be watched very carefully, even though they haven't reached full gnarl yet. They might dissipate, then again they might start spinning off some gusts/lulls/downbursts/updrafts.

Re: You are kiting and you see these clouds: what do you do?

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:17 pm
by mobettah
naishkiter10882 wrote:um, someone lol?
Looks like towering culmulus. These can with the right conditions grow into thunderstorms (cumulonimbus clouds).

Here's a similar picture of a towering CU ...

Image

They are an indication of convection air currents happening i.e. hot air rising and then cooling forming the clouds. It's the ones of these that form 30 or so miles from you that can be worrisome. Very often they will be full fledged thunderstorms by the time they get to you.

It helps to know the area you are kiting and the weather patterns around it. We see these all the time at the local spot here. The ones that go north or south of us are no problems. Ones coming towards us we are careful.

Re: You are kiting and you see these clouds: what do you do?

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:48 am
by naishkiter10882
thanks guys