Cindy_Fitzgibbon's Blog

Whenever a question comes along from a viewer that I think might interest you I like to share... so here you go!

Ted from Saugus writes:  

Cindy,

I noticed this morning that when you were showing the satellite shot, the clouds were moving South to North. When you showed the Doppler, the clouds are moving North to south. HOW COME??????

Thank You.

Here's my response:

Morning Ted,
Great observation!  What you noticed is a result of winds blowing in different directions at different heights in the atmosphere.

The storm itself is being steered farther out to see by strong upper level winds blowing from the south and southwest.  When you look at the satellite imagery this morning (showing the clouds) you're seeing the mid and higher level cloud tops being sheared to the north and northeast by those upper level winds.  

When you look at the Doppler radar imagery this morning (showing the precipitation) you're seeing the radar returns dropping from north to south.  This is a function of the low level circulation and a north to northeast surface wind.  

This storm is pretty wound up... we're lucky it's passing far enough out to see for just these fringe effects- or we'd be hearing the sounds of snow blowers instead of birds later this afternoon.
Take care and thanks for writing in!
Cindy F.