The March of the Airmasses

Many of y'all who will read this blog sometime today likely awoke to a strange feeling. The air was "heavy", your clothes feel a bit sticky, a strange smell permeates the air as you go to work, school, or Home Depot to get an estimate on a double inward-swinging non-standard size french door...oh wait. That's me. Focus...

Yes, my West Texas Friends, the annual march of the airmasses is taking place. What is this you ask? For those that went to Anti-Aggieland, think "Brown Smell". Remember how it sometimes would appear randomly at night, usually after 8pm or so? That is one symptom of this meteorological magic that we "weather weenies" look forward to each spring and summer. Sidenote: "brown smell" here in the top 'o Texas is NOT the same phenomenon, especially if you live in and around a certain town in the southwestern portions of the area.

Why is this so magical to meteorologists? It is the march of the dryline (ignore the picture, that is NOT a dryline but this example is!), a magical moisture discontinuity that manages to "slosh" (yes, we ACTUALLY use that term) back and forth across the region in the spring and even in the fall. If conditions are just right, the dryline can mean tornado producing supercells or perfectly clear skies in which one can get a good sunburn. It is a fickle feature, leading many forecasts (yes, mine included) to either come beautifully true or totally go down the toilet.

It is this feature that adds to the challenge of forecasting in the Panhandle and there are extremely few places in the world that have any kind of facsimile or equivalent. But there is something more. When I walked out this evening and saw a hazy full moon, felt the blue jeans and shirt feel a bit stickier than usual, and smelled a bit of mustiness that only comes from air blowing off the Gulf of Mexico, I was reminded how amazing this part of Texas is - from the top of the Panhandle all the way down to the Big Bend. It is the simple feature of the dryline that can mean feast or famine for farmers and ranchers (and meteorologists). A difference in 50 miles or less could mean you are sweating your butt off working outside in muggy conditions or baking under a hot sun in bone dry air. The simple act that moisture gets pulled all the way from the Gulf, goes back and forth sometimes for days at a time, and that it could result in 3+ inches of rain and tornadoes or tumbleweeds blowing in dusty westerly winds that is a constant reminder to me that there is someone behind this weather wonder. I choose to believe that my God created this place, this setting, this environment and I am a lucky person to be able to experience it in all the ways possible. To you it might mean the return of the "brown smell" or having to sweat a bit extra when working outside but there is so much more involved.

That and the fact that I'll eventually be able to ask my Jesus why he makes it so stinkin' hard trying to forecast if the dryline is going to produce thunderstorms or leave us high and dry as it did tonight...