On Aug 12, 8:18*am, Paul Hyett wrote:
On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 at 09:55:06, Dawlish wrote in
uk.sci.weather :



This forecast is still in the balance for next tuesday - but there's
something that we haven't seen on any chart, even at T264+, for weeks.
A North African plume!!

How is that different from a Spanish one?
--
Paul Hyett, Cheltenham (change 'invalid83261' to 'blueyonder' to email me)

It has it's source in North Africa - as most plumes that reach the UK
do. The hot, dry, often Saharan air becomes substantially modified as
it crosses Iberia, on its Northward passage to the UK. "Spanish" plume
is a misnomer, as regards the actual source of the hot air, but would
be accurate if applied to the source of the modification of that air
to produce the potential for thunderstorms in the UK.

Look at the source of this hot air in this possible example at +264 on
the gfs.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/Rtavn2642.png

It is then shown to cross Spain and if it did get to the UK (which I
think is unlikely) I'm sure the press would call it a "Spanish" plume;
but the source of the hot air would not have been Spain.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/Rtavn3122.png

Only the modification would be Spanish - and French too! Of course,
pedantically, air has no real "source". It just moves from area to
area, but this air mass lingered far longer over North Africa than it
is likely to linger over over Spain.

Paul