WHY IS THE AREA JUST NORTH OF EAST TEXAS AT GREATER RISK FOR TORNADO ACTIVITY THAN EAST TEXAS (TYLER AREA)?

After consulting with Matt Foster our resident Storm Chaser. Most thunderstorms form along cold fronts and boundaries where cold, dry air from the north meet warm moist air from the south. The center of the country geographically known as Plains has the greatest potential for this cold dry/warm air contrast. So since northeast Texas sits on the edge of the plains or is relatively closer to the plains than Tyler; it has a better chance of experiencing these strong air mass contrast that help produce thunderstorms which can also produce tornadoes.

Bill Parker
Public Outreach Meteorologist

IS THERE SOMETHING ABOUT THE GEOGRAPHY AROUND SHREVEPORT THAT CAUSE STORMS TO SPLIT AND MISS SHREVEPORT?

Although it may seem to us sometimes that severe weather avoids or dance around the local Shreveport area, this definitely is not the case. Now our geography does play a part in the amount of severe weather we receive, but not according to individual storms. First let me define how the National Weather Service categorizes severe weather.

We recognize severe weather when the following phenomena occur: hail of 3/4 inch (dime size) or larger is falling, wind gusts are exceeding 58 mph, or a tornado is on the ground.

Now most severe weather events are very isolated and localized, a storm may drop large hail in Greenwood, La, but downtown Shreveport may not receive anything. A squall line's winds may blow trees down in Benton, but not one tree will be uprooted in Plain Dealing. A tornado can pass one block from your house, but your house may not be damaged.

We receive a lot of severe weather in the Shreveport area, probably more than we would like, as evident by the Easter Tornado Outbreaks of 1999 and 2000. Shreveport is also one of only a few cities in the south that has had a tornado go through its downtown area.

So to sum it up, I would have to say that storms do not dance around Shreveport, but rather its a matter of timing. If you plan to remain in the Shreveport area for some time, just wait, you will get a chance to see some large hail, high wind gust of 58 mph or greater, or possibly a tornado.

Bill Parker
Public Outreach Meteorologist

WHY IS THE SKY BLUE?

Short Answer:
Blue and Violet are scattered the most in the atmosphere compared to the rest of the colors produced from the Sun. Violet is scattered the most, but our eyes are more sensitive to blue. Thus, we see a blue sky.

Longer Answer:
The sun emits visible light. The visible light is made up of different colors from violet (shortest wavelength) to red (longest wavelength). The atmosphere is made of tiny molecules (nitrogen, oxygen, dust, etc.) which allows the most scattering to occur with the shortest wavelengths, which for light are violet and blue. This kind of scattering is called Rayleigh scattering. Rayleigh scattering by definition is "a scattering process produced by spherical particles whose radii are smaller than about one-tenth the wavelength of the scattered radiation" (Glossary of Meteorology). So as light encounters atmospheric particles, the violet and blue colors of the color spectrum is scattered much more than the colors that have a longer wavelength (red). Since violet has the shortest wavelength, the sky should be violet, but because our eyes are more sensitive to blue we see a blue sky.