Jungle Jim playground, Tolkien style timber play zone part of the refurbished Kings Gardens, in parkland, Southport, Merseyside, UKVirga with fall-streaks falling from nimbostratus winter weather cloud formations. Virga is an observable streak or shaft of precipitation falling from a cloud but evaporating or subliming before reaching the ground. After thunderstorms, and the onset of a cold front in the early hours, the coastal resort endures high winds, snow showers, driving rain and hail, with intermittent sunshine.
In meteorology, virga is an observable streak or shaft of precipitation that falls from a cloud but evaporates or sublimes before reaching the ground. At high altitudes the precipitation falls mainly as ice crystals before melting and finally evaporating; this is often due to compressional heating, because the air pressure increases closer to the ground. It is very common in the desert and in temperate climates. In North America, it is commonly seen in the Western United States and the Canadian Prairies. It is also very common in the Middle East, Australia and North Africa. Virga can cause varying weather effects, because as rain is changed from liquid to vapor form, it removes heat from the air due to the high heat of vaporization of water. In some instances, these pockets of colder air can descend rapidly, creating a dry microburst which can be extremely hazardous to aviation. Conversely, precipitation evaporating at high altitude can compressionally heat as it falls, and result in a gusty downburst which may substantially and rapidly warm the surface temperature. This fairly rare phenomenon, a heat burst, also tends to be of exceedingly dry air. Virga also has a role in seeding storm cells whereby small particles from one cloud are blown into neighboring supersaturated air and act as nucleation particles for the next thunderhead cloud to begin forming Virga can produce dramatic and beautiful scenes, especially during a red sunset. The red light can be caught by the streamers of falling precipitation, and winds may push the bottom ends of the virga so it falls at an angle, making the clouds appear to have commas attached. The word virga is derived from Latin meaning "twig" or "branch".
Size: 3600px × 2400px
Location: Southport, Merseyside, UK.
Photo credit: © MediaWorldImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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