Got some basic weather questions? Maybe you can find
the answer here! This page quotes information from local SA meteorologist
and specialist industry weather forecaster Ian Holton., Please visit
his website
for more information or to subscribe to his specialist weather services.
A New Weather Term is explained each month:
q. March 2005: What is a "Cut-off Low Pressure
System"
a. A cut-off low pressure system is a low that has
become stranded from the normal west to east moving westerly wind
flow stream which moves around the mid-latitude areas of the northern
and southern hemispheres.
It becomes slow-moving and may even drift back westwards
(the opposite to normal movement in the mid-latitudes).
It may become stationary for several days or more,
and as it does areas that lie under-neath & around the centre
of the low may well receive substantial rains for several days or
more.
It will eventually be again captured by the normal
westerly flow and move away to the east as normal, however it may
remain in an area for periods of several days to one or two weeks
on occasions.
The cut-off low pressure is essentially a parcel
of cold air that has sheared off from the normal cold air belt at
higher mid-latitudes and for a time is stranded, surrounded by warmer
sub-tropical air. It is therefore unable to move with the normal cool
westerly mid-latitudinal flow until contact with the cool westerly
flow is again made. It then sweeps away to the east once again as
a normal mid-latitude westerly low pressure system.
q. April 2005: What is a "Blocking High/
Blocking Low/ or Blocking High/Low Pair"
The Earth' atmosphere generally is warmer near the
equator and cooler near the poles. In the mid latitudes there is a
latitudinal area from around 25 to 50S (Southern Hemisphere) where
these two warm and cool areas meet and frontal zones form. Here where
these frontal zones form, the warm temperatures to the north and the
cooler temperatures to the south (Southern Hemisphere), propel fronts
and associated lows eastwards in the well known Westerly Wind Belt.
However, sometimes a warm bubble mass of air will
be propelled well southwards, and a cooler bubble mass of air will
be propelled well northwards. Ussually these two events happen in
the same longtitudinal zone. When this happens the temperature structure
is reversed and cool temperatures are to the north and warm temperatures
are to the south (Southern Hemisphere). In this situation the normal
westerly flow & eastward movement of lows, highs and fronts cannot
be sustained, and easterly movement of systems (retrogression) may
even occur.
This blocking high/ blocking low or blocking pair
type of situation is hard to break down and may need many strong fronts
"hitting" against the block to bring the temperature structure
back to normal. And often weaker fronts can move up to the block and
on hitting the block shear more cold air north into the blocking low
part of the block top. This will intensify the block even further
or at least keep it sustained. Thereby, a blocking situation may continue
for weeks at times interrupting the normal west to east movement of
systems, and steering fronts well SE around the blocking pair.
If a blocking high is sitting over a site for days
or weeks a long dry fine and maybe frosty in winter spell is the result.
However, conversely, if you have a blocking low sitting over a site
for days or weeks, heavy rains, & even flooding can result.
The answer to this April question is related to
the answer to the March question, as a "cut-off low" (as
explained in the March 2005 answer) will become the blocking low part
of a blocking high/ low pair if enough warm air is forced southwards
under it and a blocking high cell forms to the south of the cut-off
low pressure system.
Blocks tend to form over favoured sites and the
most favoured near Australia is around New Zealand where the N to
S hills block the westerly flow and can easily cause such blocking
patterns. However, a blocking high/low pair can occur over any part
of southern or central Australia at any time of the year.
q. May 2005: What is "Virga & the related
'Dry Downburst' phenomenon?"
Virga is rain that evaporates before it reaches
the ground.
Virga is often found in the drier inland regions
of Australia, where away from the oceanic water sources, a common
lower level very dry atmosphere exists.
Middle level moisture often feeds across Australia
from the Indian Ocean area ahead of cold fronts as elongated cloud-bands.
These are orientated NW to SE. As the NW cloud-band streams SE across
Australia it is uplifted by convergence of the SE'wards moving middle
level airflow. This cloud moisture cools & condenses further as
the stream is forced to rise. Eventually, rain starts to fall, and
as it falls into the lower very dry atmosphere it evaporates before
it reaches the surface. The rain can be seen falling from the cloud
above as dark rain streaks (they may appear white if sunshine is illuminating
them) below the cloud-base and is called "virga".
In such "virga" situations, small to large
areas of light radar rain echoes are often shown on the weather radar,
and one can think that rain is about to fall. However, it does not,
as the radar is only picking up the middle level rain echoes.
At times, only the largest of the raindrops will
survive the trip through the very dry lower atmosphere, and just an
odd few medium size drops of rain will occasionally fall on the surface.
However, if it is widespread enough, the "virga" will eventually
slowly moisten up the lower atmosphere through the added water vapour
from evaporation of the falling raindrops, & rain will then start
to fall on the surface.
The other feature that can occur with "virga"
is a "dry downburst". Here, as the virga evaporates, it
cools the surrounding airmass, and this cooler dense airmass descends
and "hits" the ground spreading out as a "dry downburst".
Often it can be seen as a dust ring where the "dry downburst"
has hit the ground and spreads out kicking up a ring of dust. These
"dry downbursts" can be a very turbulent and are a hazardous
phenomenon to low flying aircraft and to aircraft taking off and landing
at an airport. They have been the cause of several aircraft crashes
on take-off, and because they are invisible, they are a dangerous
Australian aviation weather phenomenon. Also, these "dry downbursts"
can cause structural damge to buildings, and may blow down tree branches
& the trees themselves.
q. June 2005: Why do High & Low Pressures
& Fronts move in a certain direction one day and different direction
the next?
The surface High and Low Pressures and fronts shown
on weather maps will move in the direction of the 1000hpa to 500hpa
(approximate 2,000ft to 18,500ft) general Temperature pattern/wind
flow patterns aloft. Generally at these levels in Southern and Central
Australian latitudes it is a SE to NE directional movement in the
normal mid to upper level NW to SW Westerly wind belt flow.
As Highs, Lows and fronts move along these mid level
temperature and flow patterns they change direction following the
flow patterns aloft. Occasionally the mid and upper level temperature
& flow patterns are aligned in northerly, southerly or even easterly
flow patterns. In this case the low or high can move in south, north
or even west directions for a period, instead of the usual NE to SE
movement..
In light middle and upper level temperature &
flow patterns, they will move slowly, and conversely in strong middle
and upper level temperature & flow patterns, they will move rapidly.
Closer to the equator, in Tropical and Sub-tropical
areas, Low pressure systems normally move in a westerly direction,
as the general low and middle level temperature and flow patterns
are reversed, and the normal low & middle wind flow direction
is from NE or SE.
However, if tropical and sub-tropical low pressure
systems stray too far south, they get caught in the middle and upper
westerly flow, and therefore change to the more normal SE to NE direction
of movement of the middle latitude westerly wind belt.
q. July 2005: Sometimes Nocturnal (Night-time)
Showers & Thunderstorms start forming in the evening and overnight.
As there is no convective heating in the night, what causes them to
form? And why do Autumn to Spring Showery Lines/Bands often form over
the South Australian Gulfs and the Lower Murray River at night?
Thunderstorms can occur at night-time if a layer
of middle level cloud left-over from the days shower and storm activity
remains overnight. This middle level cloud layer is heated from below
by radiative heating from the earths' surface. While above, the top
of the cloud layer is cooled by heat being radiated away from its
top cloud surface into the upper atmosphere. The cloud layer therefore
heats at the bottom and cools at the top, and thereby becomes unstable.
Eventually Castellanus unstable cloud turrents start to form, and
these then can become high and large enough to glacify (turn to ice)
and high-based Cumulonimbus (Thunderstorm) Clouds start to occur.
If there is a strong jet-stream above, and/or an
upper level trough approaching, these storms can become widespread
and very active often in the period from around 8pm to Midnight, and
may well go on until dawn, when the suns' heating starts to warm the
cloud-tops and stabilize them. As there storms are often lower preciptitation
high based storms they make good lightning photography night subjects.
In the tropics, they often form out over the sea
at night, as cooler land-breezes push out to sea and warm by contact
with the warm oceans, they then rise and form large cumulus. Nocturnal
cloud top cooling comes into effect, and then this causes them to
build into much storm activity. Converging Land breezes off the Malayan
& Indonesian Peninsulas also helps cause the well known nocturnal
storm activity at night in that area.
When streams run up the South Australian gulfs,
& Lakes-Murray River areas at night, a similar effect can occur
in autumn, winter & spring seaons, as converging land-breezes
from either sides of the gulfs warm as they move over the warm Gulf
water below. These land-breezes then collide and push up long or continous
shower stream lines in the middle of the gulfs/lakes. Nocturnal cloud-top
cooling adds to the intensity of these shower lines. These shower
lines eventually run up over sites, at, or near, the top of the gulfs/lakes,
causing some moderate to high rainfall totals at times. Isolated Thunderstorms
can also occur in these Gulf shower lines if the stream is very unstable.
In the Spencers Gulf area , if the air is cold enough,
they can form nocturnal snow shower lines in the Orroroo/ Peterborough
area as they drift inland from Spencers Gulf on a cold night in a
persistent SW to SSW'ly stream.
Whyalla had been known to gain persistent overnight
hail showers & showers if the cold stream is from a more southerly
direction. Cleve and Cowell areas can gain good rains if the stream
is from the SSE, and the Port Germein area can gain some of its heaviest
yearly rainfall events in a SSW'ly overnight Gulf convergent/nocturnal
cooled showery stream.
In the St Vincents Gulf area, heavy falls can occur
in a SSW'ly stream over the Roseworthy/Tarlee/Clare areas. Snow has
fallen very occasionally in the Burra Area in cold winter/spring streams.
And in a more Southerly stream the Balaklava/Port Wakefield and Hummocks
areas can do well for rainfall.
While in the SA Lakes and Lower Murray Rivers areas,
a SSW'ly can bring good rainfalls to the Lower Murray River and Near
Lower Murray River areas. While in a more southerly to SSE'ly flow,
heavy rainfalls can occur as the shower lines are forced to rise up
over the eastern Mt Lofty ranges. Feet deep snow falls have been recorded
in the Mt Barker/ Nairne/ Gumeracha areas on rare occasions in a cold
S to SSE winter/spring showery stream.
q. August 2005: Is the westerly wind belt moving
southwards as Global Warming increases? And if this is happening, will
rainfall become less in Winter Months in Southern areas of Australia?
There have been suggestions made that the westerly
wind belt that rings the Southern hemisphere is becoming stronger
and shrinking back southwards towards the Antarctic continent because
of Global Warming. The past ten years appear to show a southward movement
of the Winter Westerly Wind Belt in the Australian Region. As a consequence
rainfall appears to have lowered in southern areas of Australia during
the Winter months. Also, many would have noticed that Dams are no
longer are filling from heavy rains during the Winter months.
Is this apparent wind/weather pattern change going
to continue or to get worse?
The main points to consider in my opinion are:
a. Continued warming of the global world temperature
will cause the mean position of the westerly wind belt to continue
to drift erratically further southwards than its' past mean position.
b. Apart from any global world temperature chnages,
the westerly wind belt latitude will change every year/ season according
to sea surface temperature changes around the Australian and Southern
Hemisphere areas. And it will be further north than the general mean
in some years, and further south of the general mean in other years.
c. Although southern coasts and hills areas may
benefit from strong westerly wind type winters, dry westerly wind
streams inland can produce drought conditions eg. 1902 and 1957. A
quote from John Pringle an Australian Author who wrote once of the
dry inland westerly winds, "The Westerly is the Voice of Australia.
This is the true aboriginal wind, hard and lean and dry as the bones
of a dead sheep".
More general inland rain is actually generally produced
in winter years with more meridional flows (N or S flows). In these
conditions Tropical Moisture & NW Cloud-bands can move down southwards
ahead of fronts, and strong temperature gradient fronts can penetrate
well inland bringing good rains.
d. In the general wetter Australian years many inland
lows & cut-off lows are also common, little westerly flow occurs,
and high pressure systems are often lie well south of the Australian
continent for long periods. In many of these general inland wetter
years the main westerly flow was broken up & often lay well south
of the Australian continent during winter months. eg 1955, 1956 &
1974.
e. Therefore, a movement south of the westerly wind
belt will not neccessarily cause a lowering of rainfall in Southern
Australia. It will depend on how the sea surface temperatures are
structured around the Australian and Southern Hemisphere areas for
that particular year/season.
f. However, a general movement southwards of the
mean position of the westerly wind belt in winter is likely to continue
the erraticly the slow downward trend of lower rainfalls in some southern
coastal and hills areas (which gain much of their winter rainfall
from coastal westerly winter frontal shower activity).
q. September 2005: Why do we generally get more
thunderstorm activity in the Spring and early Summer months?
In Springtime the land temperatures start to warm
rapidly as the sun moves southwards (Southern Hemisphere), becomes
more overhead, and thereby produces more daytime heating. However,
the oceans warm only slowly in Spring time. This creates an unstable
situation over the land-masses as the colder air over the water often
rushes inland to try to equalise the strong temperature gradient that
exists between the air over the warm land and the air over colder
water. As these colder unstable frontal airmasses push inland they
generate cumulus clouds & thunderstorms as the warm land airmass
is rapidly lifted.
Also, over the land at the same time in Spring,
the lower layers warm up rapidly, while there is a lag in spreading
the heating up into the middle and upper layers, so again unstable
air mass cumulus convection clouds and thunderstorms can occur.
In very late Summer and Autumn months, the converse
is true, as the land mass is cooling, the sea temps are still quite
warm and are only slowly becoming cooler. The land to sea temperature
gradients are less, and therefore the frontal passages are less unstable,
have less strength, and thereby less storm activity results.
Also, over the land at the same time in Autumn months,
the lower layers are cooling faster than the middle and upper layers.
More stability is therefore present, as cooler surface air resides
below a"warmer" middle and upper airmass, & thereby
less air mass storm activity is generally produced.
q. October 2005: What is a "Black Frost"
and why does it cause so much damage to plants?
In Springtime the land temperatures start to warm
rapidly as the sun moves southwards (Southern Hemisphere), & cbecomes
more overhead, thereby producing more daytime heating. However, the
oceans warm only slowly in Spring time. This creates an unstable situation
over the land-masses as the colder air over the water often rushes
inland to try to equalise the strong temperature gradient that exists
between the air over the warm land and the air over colder waters
to the south.
As these colder, quite dry, polar frontal airmasses
push rapidly northwards over the Australian continent, they arrive
as a cold, dry, clear airmass with a few brief showers and small pellet
hail embedded showers, mainly around the southern coasts and hills.
As these cold & dry airstreams move rapidly inland they dry even
further, and in the nocturnal hours become even colder due nocturnal
radiational cooling of the near surface air layers in contact with
the ground. These cold to very cold airstreams then slow down and
temperatures can start to plunge down to the zero mark and below.
However, if they contain little moisture(very low
relative humidity and dew points below say minus 3 degrees or less),
then they do not form dew or frost on the plant surfaces. This normal
dew and frost coating tends to insulate & protect the plant cells
from freezing. If the temperature drops below zero and dew and frost
do not form, then the plant cells freeze and burst easily. In the
morning, a farmer may wake up and see no dew and frost around and
feel relieved. But, within a day or less the farmer will start to
see "black frost" scald patches start to appear on leaves,
and much damage can then become evident.
The actual damage to ears of grain may not even
be apparent until harvest , when much of the harvested grain is pinched
and of very poor quality,suitable only for stock feed...or in the
worst cases the grains may not have even formed in the "black
frost" affected head!
Fortunately, in Australia, we have an ocean belt
to our south, between us and the Antarctic This tends to warm and
moisten any northward moving polar airmass before it reaches the Australian
continent. Therefore,"black frosts" are rare events. But,
once every few years they do happen in small areas of southern and
central Australia, and samll areas of crops can suffer from the severe
damage of a notorious "black frost".
q. November 2005: Medians, Means & Averages...What
do they say about rainfall & temperature on your farm or town?
The median (the middle number in a series, with
half the obs above and half below), and the mean (the average or mathematical
total of all the obs divided by the number of obs ), are useful to
show the type of expected weather at any site for any month, season
or year...BUT, the problem with these type of statistics is that in
the fact that Medians and Means rarely occur at any site for any particular
month, season or year!
And this is because the Medians and Means for any
site are in actuality the Median and Means of many "ABNORMAL"
events, ie. The May Mean rainfall for an 12 year period may be 25mm,
but the actual rainfall for that 12 year period may be: 2, 8, 15,
15, 18, 25, 25, 32, 35, 36, 49, 50mm. So in actuality, only two May
rain totals in 12 are near the mean May rainfall ...all other years
are NOT mean or "normal" months for that 12 year period.
And, if we look at the Mean or Average May rainfall
for that 12 period... it is the total 285mm of all the obs, divided
by 12 years, which equals 25.8mm average rainfall for May for that
12 year period...but again, only two May rain total in the 12 May
rain totals were near the mean or average...all other years are NOT
"average" May rain years.
A better way of looking at the statistics is to
look at the NORMAL SPREAD or STANDARD DEVIATION of May rainfalls:
The STANDARD DEVATION( the difference) from the
average of all the 12 May rainfall observations is 12mms (ie. the
total of the difference of all 12 rainfall May years from the mean
of 25.8mms, is 134mms, divide that by 12 and you get 12mms as the
STANDARD DEVIATION).
That means that normally the May rainfall for this
particular site is between 13.8 and 37.8mms( ie. within 12mms of the
mean). So the only real ABNORMAL or EXTREME type years are the 2,
8, 49 and 50mm May total years. All other years lie within what one
would normally expect to occur in May at that particular site.
It is worth noting that most medians or means or
Standard deviations of rainfall are calculated over a much longer
period than 11 years...30 or 100 year medians, averages or normal
spreads are ussually calculated.
And it is worth stating once again...Months, seasons
and years are rarely near the Median or Mean(Average) rainfall, temperature,
etc. They are better looked at as an expected rainfall, temperature,
etc range, such as that revealed by the Standard Deviation.
q. December 2005: "When I was younger, say
back in the 60's and 70's, the weather Perth was having would come straight
east and reach us 3 or 4 days later, why doesn't it do this now?"
The weather patterns do generally move from west
to east in the mid-latitudes, and the main weather features often
do move east from Perth across to SA/ VIC/ and NSW several days later.
However.......(a) there is also a vast interchange
of airmasses from north to south, and south to north, and these can
modify and change the weather features as they move across from WA.
Low and High Pressure systems can change, weaken or strengthen, form
or dissipate,
(b) the sea surface temperature patterns, mountain
ranges and other topographic features tend to steer weather systems
in certain directions for each day, week, month, season and year.
This steering may not be west to east, but may be more NW to SE or
SW to NE...or even E to W, the opposite to normal,
(c) Blocking weather patterns can form and block
all other eastward moving weather systems for day or weeks, and can
even send them back westwards for periods,
(d) Moist air masses from the Oceans around Australia
can infeed into low pressure systems and change a "dry"
low pressure system into an active stronger "wet" low pressure
system as it moves eastwards, or conversely dry air from the interiors
can infiltrate into a "wet" low pressure system and clear
most of the rainfall from the system as it moves eastwards.
The legend of the common belief that "in the
60's and 70's we got Perth's weather a few days later, and now we
do not", probably stems from the fact that.......(a) We did not
have forecasts that extended out more than 24 to 48 hours, and that
they were not as accurate...So people looked westwards to Perth to
see what general weather may come across,
(b) We did not have satellite pictures and computers
to really see weather systems continually evolve, and,
(c) Some years are more dominated by west to east
flow of weather patterns than others, mainly due to sea-surface temperature
changes around the hemisphere...the 60's and 70's had a more than
the normal share of years that were more dominated by west to east
flow.
q. January 2006: "Lake Eyre SA is below sea
level. If the State or Federal Australian Government dug a canal from
Port Augusta to Lake Eyre and filled it with sea water wouldn't there
be more moisture around the inland. And hence wouldn't most fronts and
lows drop more rainfall in many areas of Central and Eastern Australia?"
While Lake Eyre can hold a significant area of water
surface when full, in comparison to the area of Australia it is quite
small. However, having said that, if Lake Eyre were full, there would
be more lower level moisture in the atmosphere in the general vicinity
of the Lake, and more rainfall would be likely to occur. Also, there
would be an increase, to a certain extent, in lower level moisture
levels ahead of fronts in NE to NW streams flowing down across Flinders
Ranges, Lower and Mid North, Central Districts of SA, Mallee SA, Mallee
& Wimmera VIC areas. So the rainfall would likely increase somewhat
in those and in some other nearby adjoining areas.
The bigger questions are: (1) How much would the
rainfall increase? (2) How much would this project cost a goverment?
(3) And hence, would such a scheme be cost efficient? (4) And would
it harm the enviroment?
The answer to; (1) is probably too hard for even
a computer to work out with any real accuracy, (2) is likely to be
many millions of dollars, and then an ongoing large maintenence cost
would also be incurred, (3) is again very hard to work out, seeing
as we cannot answer question (1) satisfactorily. Maybe over a time
it would recoup the money with increased agricultural & aquaculture
production, a vast increase in tourism and inland tourist resourt
incomes, and a large increase in the labour market. (4) Again, a hard
question to answer. It may increase Spencers Gulf salinity, but, it
have other benefits like increasing the migratory bird population,
because of the vast areas available for breeding all year around.
These issues are complex and would be best answered by an environmental
study.
q. February 2006: "It has been observed that
showers and storms often follow tree-lined creeks and rivers. Why is
this so?"
Over inland areas convective showers and storms
develop during the daylight hours. These develop over areas of hotter
land. Here more heat energy exists than over the surrounding cooler
temperature land areas. However, areas where extra moisture exists,
also contain higher levels of heat energy in the form of latent heat
of condensation. Convective showers and storms tend to develop more
easily over these moist areas along tree-lined rivers and creeks,
as they can feed on this extra heat energy source viz. latent heat
energy.
In fact, areas that gain a storm early in the season
tend to gain further storms during the following days, weeks &
months, as later storms tend to form and use the latent heat energy
of the moisture left from the previous storms and from extra grass
growth.
It is also likely, that when most of the forests
were cleared for agriculture in the early to mid last century, that
we exposed ground areas to greater evaporation rates caused by more
sunlight and more wind movement...And that in doing this we have also
decreased the moisture present... and hence decreased the latent heat
energy available... and hence dereased daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal
and annual rainfall in many areas of Australia.
q. March 2006: "When a shower or storm line
approaches us the heaviest and darkest part of the shower or storm line
almost always seem to pass on either side of our home-site. It seems
to almost always split into two heavier areas of rain, one each side
of our house, and we get the lighter looking part of the shower or storm
line pass over us. Why does this almost always happen at our site?"
Any line of showers and/or storms passing over a
site will appear to have heavier and darker rain areas to each side
of the site as the line passes over that site due to an optical illusion
effect. If you are looking at the middle of the approaching shower
or storm line you are looking through a much shorter distance of rain-band,
than if you are looking towards the edges of the line which are passing
each side of your site. If you are looking along the rain-band as
it is getting closer to you you are looking at an angle and therefore
through a much greater length of the rain-band and it will appear
darker and heavier to your eyesight. Therefore, almost every observer
along the shower or storm line will experience that same effect..."The
showers always split around us when they approach our house or farm"
could be said by almost every weather observer in an area, and often
is said because of this optical illusion effect. If you are still
not convinced, then view the surrounding rainfall readings each day.
Do you really get less rain than all the other sites regularly, or
are your readings less some days and more other days. Unless you are
in a valley or rain-shadow area, the latter will probably be more
correct.
q. April 2006: "What is the MJO Tropical Wave? What is an ER Tropical
Wave?"
An MJO (Madden Julian Oscillation) is basically an
unstable tropical cloudmass of shower/rain and thunderstorm activity
which generally forms in the Tropical Indian Ocean and drifts slowly
EASTWARDS during the Mid Spring to Mid Autumn period of each year. It
has a periodicity of around 40 to 60 days generally. In between each
MJO phase is a supressed weather drier Anti-MJO phase. The cause of
this weather phenomenon is not well understood, but appears to be related
to Westerly Mid-latitude airflow and associated Upper Level Troughs
further south of the MJO (Southern Hemisphere), and to the Sea Surface
temperature structure in the tropical oceans of the Indian and Pacific
Oceans. MJOs seem to be more common during the El-Nino phase and less
common during the La-Nina Phase. These MJO waves often dissipate in
the Middle of the Pacific Ocean as they drift eastwards. If they reach
over to the South American Coast, they are said to trigger off an El-Nino
surge of some nature.
An ER (Equatorial Rossby Wave) is is basically an
unstable tropical cloudmass of shower/rain and thunderstorm activity
which generally forms in the Tropical Pacific Ocean and, in contrast
to the MJO, drifts slowly WESTWARDS during the Mid Spring to Mid Autumn
period of each year.It has a periodicity of around 30 to 45 days generally.
In between each ER phase is a supressed weather dryer Anti-ER phase.
The cause of this weather phenomenon is also not well understood, but
appears to be related to general Tropical Easterly Flow and to the Sea
Surface temperature structure in the tropical oceans of the Indian and
Pacific Oceans. ERs, in contrast to the MJO's, seem to be more common
during the La-Nina phase and less common during the El-Nino Phase. These
ER waves often dissipate in the Middle of the Indian Ocean or near the
African continent as they drift westwards.
Often there is a complex mix of MJO & ER Waves
present during the active Mid Spring to Mid Autumn period each year,
and this makes forecasting Tropical and the associated Mid-latitude
weather & rainfall which may occur from them difficult at times.
See current BOM past and forecast chart at http://www.bom.gov.au/bmrc/clfor/cfstaff/matw/maproom/OLR_modes/h.6.ALL.S.html
[*These articles can be reproduced
and published providing they clearly state they are by the author Ian
Holton, and that they have been copied from the Holton Weather Web-site
at http://www.holtonweather.com]