How come...?

Guest

How come there are only thunderstorms in Barrow once in a while? (at least until recently) what is the weather like?
Hana

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 74 Location: Barrow, AK

Well, there are only infrequent thunderstorms here in Barrow for much of the same reasons that we don't get them in Bellingham very often - the conditions are right. In some parts of the world, like the Midwest, they have thunderstorms very often in the summer, sometimes daily.

For thunderstorms to occur, typically, the ground gets very warm and causes the air above it to heat up and expand quickly. This makes the air rise and if it is humid enough, the fast rising air cools and forms the large cumulonimbus thunderhead clouds. The rising air can cause sudden heavy showers, hail, and electrical storms due to the friction of the rising air particles creating giant static electricity sparks (basically).

In Barrow, there are rarely thunderstorms for two reasons: 1) It doesn't get warm enough to heat the ground much and thus the air above it to become the quickly rising air and 2) it is not humid enough. Barrow is an arctic desert. By the time air gets here is it so cold that it doesn't have much moisture and my hair, lips and skin can attest that is it dry here.

We have mostly had two types of weather while I have been here: Western Washington in January: 35 F and raining and Western Washington in March: 45 F and partly cloudy or overcast. And much like Bellingham, it is almost always windy. Smile