This thread will provide updates on the progress of the #WestAfricaWaterPlume as they come to hand. Sometimes animations, sometimes threads/commentaries....

The presentation of this Sahara water transit event this morning..... /1
And the presentation of the #WestAfricaWaterPlume tonight. It has got a lot bigger.
@zoom_earth has a nifty measurement tool which can probably be used to estimate the quantity of water in transit. At this stage the plume is being fed both directly off the Atlantic and also by the West African Monsoon through Mali. Image
A 10 day global model Access-G (Aus/UK) of precipitable water. Access-G, like GFS and ECMWF expects the plume over Africa to take a more northerly trajectory. [Note: At present CMC and KMA models have it turning more easterly towards the ME.]
During the 17th April event the moisture went in a straight line north over the Black Sea and resulted in the very large rainfall event you see still playing out now over Russia. And this appears to be happening again. If it does it may strengthen this system further. Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Alastair Thompson

Alastair Thompson Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @althecat

30 Apr
Today's #ArabianStorms went in a different direction during the day, but ended up in a familiar place in the end.

Today's #MiddleEast and #Ethiopia #HornOfAfrica rain forecasts follow in the thread below.
In the animation above you can see a flow of clouds from Sudan to Oman. This flow actually originates to the South West in the Central African Republic. Here you see the CAR to Khartoum leg of the journey.
Over the day this stream of moisture intensified powering storms in Oman, which then split into two streams, one heading north over Iran and one to the East to India.
Read 6 tweets
30 Apr
In the world of Africa/Europe/MiddleEast weather today has been quite spectacular, in a new and revealing way. And the star of the show has been the #WestAfricaWaterPlume.

See also.. a thread from this morning....
.. and for a full backgrounder this thread from April 27th.
The plume has now stolen the European stage entering stage left and heading directly towards Moscow. The precipitation animation below is from @meteoblue. Rain reports are not 100% accurate as they are satellite & not radar driven.

But as for #DesertRain?
There has been a lot.
Read 11 tweets
30 Apr
The #WestAfricaWaterPlume is rather spectacular in its presentation this morning. Roughly the size of Mexico and growing rapidly - a massive river of moisture which has just reached Italy. Image
This view shows satellite estimations of rainfall. Again the European @ECMWF weather model appears to have massively underestimated this event. Also on the face of what we can see so far it is turning Eastwards - which is not what many models were predicting. Image
Here are the current ECMWF predictions as of now, at midnight today, and at midnight Saturday and Sunday. ImageImageImageImage
Read 7 tweets
30 Apr
Good Morning.... Image
Tis frosty and color here 2 degrees on the final day of Spring. Image
Image
Read 5 tweets
29 Apr
Today is the 10th consecutive day of extensive thunderstorm activity across #MiddleEast.

Meanwhile the #HornOfAfrica little rainy season which began in the 2nd week of April continues to strengthen.

29 April rainfall forecast reports for the region follows. [Images 29/4 @NASA] ImageImage
This thread contains images and animations of today's storm activity. /2
Today's 10-Day forecasts for North Africa [GFS, ECMWF, CMC, and KMA ]are now all expecting rain in West Africa as a #WestAfricaWaterPlume transports Atlantic water across the Sahara to the Mediterranean.

However they have divergent views on intensity and impact in EU/ME. ImageImageImageImage
Read 14 tweets
29 Apr
The center of #ArabianStorms activity today is over the United Arab Emirates #UAE, #Oman and North Eastern #KSA.

In the @Arab_Storms video below you can get a sense of what the weather is like there today. Image
With moisture coming in across Sudan the #AranoamStorms along the Eastern side of the Red Sea have sparked up over the last few hours. But they are unlikely to have sufficient daylight left to strengthen significantly today.
Further south cloud and rain activity over the Horn of Africa has expanded to the West today with a line of clouds coming in from the Central African Republic, over Chad into the Sudan. Image
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!