There’s a Storm Brewing
S
By Cristopher Widuch
Joshua Marthers
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Background photo by Jack Kotz
torms, like people, come in all shapes and sizes. Seattle residents
are used to steady rain, falling incessantly. On the plains of
Oklahoma, a tornado is as likely to form as a rain shower. In
the Midwest, forecasters can see a storm approaching days
in advance, and can predict with incredible accuracy when it will strike
and how much rain it will leave behind. Here in the Lowcountry, storms
seemingly come out of nowhere; predicting where and when an area will
see a storm is part art, even as it is based on science.
Josh Marthers has been forecasting weather for the local
NBC affiliate since 2007. Josh earned a Bachelor of Science
Degree from Mississippi State, focused on meteorology and
climatology. Born and raised in upstate South Carolina, Josh
is quite familiar with the weather patterns we experience
locally. However, for the large number of transplants
to this region, these patterns can be both puzzling and
intriguing. How many times have we talked to neighbors who
complained about a torrential downpour on their part of the
Island while we saw nothing but sunshine on our part?
“We live in an area that is fairly unique,” Josh explained
recently, “because in most of the world you do not have the
ingredients necessary to create a thunderstorm on a near-everyday basis.
In the Midwest, the atmosphere is a little easier to predict. Weather systems
form due to atmospheric conditions. Cold fronts come through that create
these broad areas of rising motion that is favorable for a thunderstorm. You
can see it form, and you can track it as it progresses. You know it’s coming,
you know at what speed it is traveling, and you can predict, within reason,
the time it will arrive at a given location.”
“There are really three main ways we get rain here in the Lowcountry.
First and foremost, in the summertime, we’re controlled by the big Bermuda
High, which often times suppresses well formed weather systems from
getting to us. The result is that the majority of our rain comes from so-called
‘pop up’ showers and thunderstorms. With this type of storm, your neighbor
may get one to two inches of rain while you don’t see a drop. Second, an
occasional cold front that really has its act together can make it through
here and cause a storm. And third and most dangerous, a tropical storm or
hurricane can develop and cause all sorts of trouble.
“There are certain ingredients necessary for a storm to form. You have to
have a warm surface, relative to the air above it. That causes instability. In the
summer we have that almost every day. Our afternoons are in the high 80s
to 90s. If you go up to 5,000 feet, the air temperature is in the 60s, and if you