Robert Brent Kiholm Atmo 1010

Robert B. Kiholm

Atmo-1010

Christopher Foster, PhD

Spring 2020

Weather in the Movies 

The film I chose for this assignment is "The Day after Tomorrow". Analyzing this film to decide what weather phenomenon portrayed in the movie to research and write about was a challenge. After all there were several different types of extreme weather portrayed in this film. 

The film I chose was “The Day After Tomorrow” It was challenging to decide what weather related phenomenon in this film to write about. There were in fact several extreme types of weather portrayed, quite dramatically I might add, in this movie. 

The one I found the most interesting was the “Super-Cyclone” that supposedly sucked extremely cold air down from the upper troposphere, and created a virtual ice age in the northern hemisphere. In starting research on this I came across an article from a website. (https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/)  I feel that this is credible because it was written by Professor Peter Janson a Full Professor with glacier-climate relationships as his primary research field and work. The description was called a cold-core cyclone rather than a super-cyclone and was likened to a mid-level cyclone. In his article, he makes comparisons between hurricanes and mid-level cyclones, but it was educational from his descriptions of the mid-level cyclones and the components required for their existence. For instance mid-latitude cyclones occur in the mid-latitudes and move from west to east. They also contain centers of low pressure. Also, “Mid-latitude storms move as temperature advection drives pressure falls ahead of the storm”. (Janson) https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/241/what-are-the-key-differences-between-warm-and-cold-core-cyclones

As I continued my research on “cold-core cyclones” I came across a pdf file located on a website (Weatherclasses.com). It was created by Dr. Pat Fitzpatrick and contains his meteorology and oceanography lectures at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. It was very helpful in understanding the concept of cold-core cyclones. For instance I learned some of the properties associated with the cold-core cyclones/mid-latitude cyclones such as: they are concave upwards into the troposphere, they become more cyclonic with height into the troposphere, they tilt with height, upper-level low or trough is displaced northwest of surface low, and the coldest temperatures associated with the cyclone system are to the northwest. http://weatherclasses.com/uploads/3/6/2/3/36231461/cold_core_warm_core_general_information.pdf

Below is an image of a “bomb cyclone” which is essentially an enormous mid-level cyclone.

 Below is a visual aid describing the differences between a warm core cyclone and a cold core cyclone

So I continued to look for more online sources to better educate myself on this topic, when I came across this site. (https://www.wnct.com/news/mid-latitude-cyclone-vs-hurricane-and-the-affect-on-enc/). I found it quite interesting and informative. I figured that this site would have credible information because it’s a site created by a news station, but this particular story is weather related. At this site I learned that cold-core or mid-latitude cyclones are large cold fronts associated with warm fronts that derive their energy from the cold air behind and the warm air in front of them. “They can look similar when observed on radar or from satellite, but are very different with a few similarities”. (Dontae Jones)

Warm core cyclones dissipate with altitude. Conversely, cold core cyclones intensify with altitude because of a cold upper level low pressure that exists in those higher elevations. It seems the higher then cold core cyclones reach the greater the chance for more precipitation. Another difference between the two is: warm core cyclone have a center of sinking air, and cold core cyclones have a center of low pressure with rising air.

I have enjoyed this assignment, it has been fun and educational. I have a greater knowledge on how to interpret weather images from radar and satellite. After doing research on this topic, it’s clear that the type of weather called a super cyclone may be possible with the right conditions. However, it would take years to have such a drastic climate change portrayed in “The Day after Tomorrow”.

Works Cited

https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/241/what-are-the-key-differences-between-warm-and-cold-core-cyclones

http://weatherclasses.com/uploads/3/6/2/3/36231461/cold_core_warm_core_general_information.pdf

https://www.wnct.com/news/mid-latitude-cyclone-vs-hurricane-and-the-affect-on-enc/