You never want to be in weather named after a scientist. No one does their PhD on pleasantly mild atmospheric anomalies. Okay, I’m sure someone does, but I’d argue that’s climatology, and the other meteorologists probably roll their eyes at them.
Coastal Weather Weirdness
Out here on the West Coast, we’ve got some interesting weather to look at. I’ve been bringing up some new data sources, so I’ve been diving deep into these atmospheric anomalies a lot.
We got some name-brand weather in the guise of the Fujiwhara Effect. I’m pretty sure I saw them open for the Chemical Brothers back in ’98.
Exploring Atmospheric Anomalies: Cyclonic Vortex Voyeurism
The Fujiwhara Effect is when two cyclonic vortices orbit each other. But I’m a data plumber, not a scientist, so you’re better off reading the Wikipedia page. While you’re at it, check out explosive cyclogenesis, which sounds pretty metal, even if these atmospheric anomalies aren’t named after a meteorologist.
That shows up really well on Carrot Weather’s Vision Pro app. Terrier for Mobile is doing this display, by the way.
Data Layer Deep Dive
Poking around in our various data layers, I can see wind gusts. Yup, that’s gusty, all right.
If we switch to composite reflectivity, that’s some rain for sure. It’s not unbelievable in terms of intensity, but this has been going on since yesterday.
I can check this one by looking out the window, and for sure, the visibility is not great.
If we switch to the consumer side of things, it looks even better in Carrot Weather.
Consumer vs. Enterprise Perspectives
Where I am, it’s the kind of storm where you can run between the raindrops or at least avoid getting drenched.
Ye olde Optical Flow is enough to do the trick for this kind of storm. Shout out to pySTEPS.
Like any good weather company, we have diverse customers with even more diverse users. It’s interesting to look across these various platforms and see how they interact with the data. Enterprise users tend to go deep, with more data sets for their users. Weather apps keep it relatively simple for consumers, but the displays are neater and prettier. For us data plumbers, the whole spectrum of atmospheric anomalies is interesting.