Why do showers tend to develop and/or intensify in tropical air masses
at night? Do the upper layers of the mass cool faster than the lower
layers?

Mark wrote:
Why do showers tend to develop and/or intensify in tropical air masses
at night? Do the upper layers of the mass cool faster than the lower
layers?

My understanding is that the cirrus deck at the top
of a tropical shower can cool via radiation effectively
at night, destabilizing the column and promoting more
convection.

Scott, never took tropical meteorology.

Scott

Mark wrote:
Why do showers tend to develop and/or intensify in tropical air masses
at night? Do the upper layers of the mass cool faster than the lower
layers?

My understanding is that the cirrus deck at the top
of a tropical shower can cool via radiation effectively
at night, destabilizing the column and promoting more
convection.

Scott, never took tropical meteorology.

That/s my recollection of the process, as well.
---
- T Q -

"I believe that God wants me to be president."
-- George W. Bush, January, 1999 --

Hi all,

I am going out on a limb but I have seen advected tropical moisture
develop into showers at night across the Ohio Valley with no apparent
upper level support. I have heard as the lower levels of the
atmosphere radiatively cool at night, the advected tropical moisture
lifts up and over this layer causing the development of showers. If
the atmosphere is saturated with tropical moisture, it probably would
not take a lot of lift to get it going into showers. I have also seen
a 500 mb cool advection of 1 or 2 degrees C over a particular area
entrenched with tropical moisture at night and the result was showers
popping up.


Smerby
www.accuweather.com



0F (ToweringQs) wrote in message ...
Scott

Mark wrote:
Why do showers tend to develop and/or intensify in tropical air masses
at night? Do the upper layers of the mass cool faster than the lower
layers?

My understanding is that the cirrus deck at the top
of a tropical shower can cool via radiation effectively
at night, destabilizing the column and promoting more
convection.

Scott, never took tropical meteorology.

That/s my recollection of the process, as well.
---
- T Q -

"I believe that God wants me to be president."
-- George W. Bush, January, 1999 --