Polar Lows and Cyclones at Artic

[cycloneye]

Wow it looks like a hurricane but it is at the Artic Ocean.

Searching the internet I found this interesting site with plenty of information about Polar Lows,Cyclones and other information about the weather at the Artic region.At link below go to the menu at the left.

http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/patterns/polar_low.html

[P.K.]

We have a comma over right at this moment. http://www.knmi.nl/data/satrep/archive/KNMI/LOC/LOC_20050305_0900.png

Information about commas and polar lows here. http://www.zamg.ac.at/docu/Manual/SatManu/CMs/index.htm

Edit - Changed the second link slightly.

[Aquawind]

Polar Lows can be soo cool.. I always wanted to be in what we use to call a Snowcane and I see referenced it in cycloneye's link..

some investigators to refer to polar lows as "arctic hurricanes," although they seldom, if ever, possess hurricane strength winds.

I figured you would post on this P.K. as you probably have seem many of these in satellite imagery.. I don't think they are known to be big snow producers as they come and go quickly sometimes. Of course with an associated trough somebody could get a good snow..

Paul

[Hurricanehink]

Wow, I have always liked these. It's the only thing in the tropics at the moment, sans a few invests (I know it's not tropical, but oh well). Good website Luis.

[cycloneye]

We have a comma over right at this moment. http://www.knmi.nl/data/satrep/archive/KNMI/LOC/LOC_20050305_0900.png

Information about commas and polar lows here. http://www.zamg.ac.at/docu/Manual/SatManu/CMs/index.htm

Edit - Changed the second link slightly.

You haved seen many polar lows and cyclones there right?

[Gorky]

We've had 3 big Polar Low storms this Autumn/Winter so far.


This was the first, Last October. Stalled before actually reaching the UK and headed south, had hurricane force winds sustained near the centre according to ship data.







This next storm Came through on the 7th/8th January. This one passed right over the North of England causing lots of damage (About £4500 to my Dad's shop for instance) Winds where I live gusted to 80mph and snapped some trees in half.





Finally, the most powerful storm came through 4 days later on 12th January. This one brushed North Scotland with wind gusts of well over 100mph at sea level. This has the most pronounced hurricane look to it I think

[HURAKAN]

Beautiful systems to be extratropical.

[HurricaneBill]

Although they usually don't get as intense as hurricanes, extratropical lows can sometimes have very low pressures. The lowest pressure in an extratropical low was 917 mb, I think. That equates to a Category 5 hurricane!

The sustained winds in an extratropical low don't get as high as hurricanes because the strongest winds are usually found at high altitudes and far from the center.

However, some extratropical lows can have strong sustained winds. Especially if it's a tropical cyclone that transitioned into an extratropical cyclone.

Examples:
In 1978, Cyclone Alby (Category 4 on SS scale) appeared to weaken rapidly as it underwent extratropical transition. On satellite, the center seemed void of convection.

However, as Alby made a direct hit on the SW coast of Australia, the sustained winds were around 85 mph (Category 1 on the SS scale).

Hurricane Luis in 1995 underwent extratropical transition and slammed into Newfoundland with sustained winds still around 100 mph.

[cycloneye]

Beautiful systems to be extratropical.

Yes very beautiful and powerful for being at the Artic Ocean.

[P.K.]

In that 3rd storm I think the highest windspeed I saw was gusts of 116kts.

In 1993 the Braer storm dropped to at least 916hPa. (Although it may have reached closer to 913hPa at the center)

[HurricaneBill]

Does anybody have a picture of the Braer storm?

[P.K.]

[HurricaneBill]

Wow. It looks like a huge hurricane!

[cycloneye]

That is an impressive system PK.

PK I edited and changed from the link that you posted to the image.

[P.K.]

Indeed, shame I can't remember this storm.

[Aquawind]

WOW!! Massive..MASSIVE! Thanks P.K.

Paul

[P.K.]

This record was of interest a couple of months ago when a low pressure system moved across the far north Atlantic. The models however over estimated how far the pressure would fall and it only reached around 940hPa. http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=54164 and http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=54387

Note - Some of those charts are the right ones, but some are the latest ones.

[Derecho]

Although they usually don't get as intense as hurricanes, extratropical lows can sometimes have very low pressures. The lowest pressure in an extratropical low was 917 mb, I think. That equates to a Category 5 hurricane!

Many of the pics on this thread after the initial post aren't of "Polar Lows" but are big Baroclinic (Cold Core) storms, same as a typical Noreaster hitting the US.

What's referred to as a Polar Low tends to be much smaller (less wide) and are often extremely far north.

The interesting thing about Polar Lows is that they're WARM CORE. Hard to believe but it's true.

[P.K.]

It did kind of go away from polar lows. (The Braer storm certainly wasn't one)

[kevin]

They're warm core??? That's really interesting....