Cyclone Center Talk

False eyes

  • cch001 by cch001 scientist

    Sometimes you will see storms that appear to have an eye (a circular area of warmer clouds embedded in colder clouds). It is important to examine the storm structure as a whole to decide if you really are looking at an eye or just a cloud feature disguised as one.

    Eyes: Typically surrounded by a tight, circular cold cloud feature. Overall storm structure features tightly spiraled bands. Tends to form near the center of the cold cloud mass (but not always).
    No-eyes: Typically surrounded by blobs of unorganized cold cloud, little if any spiral cloud structure, tends to be off center of the main cloud mass

    This collection shows examples of storms that feature, in my opinion, "false" eyes.

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