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RECAP: Insiders chat with Rebecca Barry

Rebecca Barry is answering your weather questions live on Thursday afternoon. (WJXT 2020)

Ever wonder how long it takes a hurricane to form? Or why hurricanes tend to spawn tornadoes? What about the difference between “heat lightning” and regular lightning? (Spoiler: there isn’t any.)

Those were just a few of the questions you asked during meteorologist Rebecca Barry’s Ask Me Anything-style live Q&A session Thursday for News4JAX Insiders. Rebecca also shed some light on the reasons she chose to pursue meteorology and a whole lot of other topics.

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We want to thank everyone who turned out and shared their questions and, of course, Rebecca for being so generous with her time. In case you missed out on the chat, we’ve posted a recap below — though some of the questions and responses have been edited for clarity.

Question: Where were you born and raised?

Rebecca: Born in Savannah (closest hospital) and raised in Crescent, Georgia, which is a little north of Darien.

Question: I see another tropical depression has formed. Do you think it will shift and hit Duval County?

Rebecca: It looks like Tropical Depression 13 will become Tropical Storm Laura later today and Tropical Depression 14 will become Tropical Storm Marco on Friday. I don’t think these are a threat to us, (but) I think it may enhance our rain chances as they move into the Gulf.

Question: When you are looking at the potential track of a storm, what is it that will make you feel that a deviation from the forecast track is coming, contrary to the National Hurricane Center?

Rebecca: I like to look at what is going on to the north and west of us and heading this way — is a cold front dropping down through the U.S., or is a big high-pressure settling in that would potentially steer the storm away and out to sea? Sometimes that factor is overlooked by certain forecast models, or not weighed heavily enough. Also, interaction with land and friction from encountering a coastline aren’t factored in as much as I like.

Question: Do you guys think it’s a possibility we would get a major hurricane this year?

Rebecca: I certainly think it is possible, but I certainly hope not. It has been such an active season already and we are still three weeks away from the peak of the season. We’ve been lucky so far with such strong wind shear, but that is expected to fade over the next few weeks.

Question: How long does a hurricane take to form?

Rebecca: A hurricane can form quickly. From a low to hurricane status in a day would be a fast-forming storm. If you had no wind shear, warm sea surface temperatures etc., it could organize and intensify within 24 hours. Most (hurricanes) take a few days (to form).

Question: What exactly causes the rainfall we get every test in August?

Rebecca: Our August rainfall is our summertime weather pattern, which is even wetter than normal this time of the year. Because of the seasonal tilt of the earth, July and August are our warmest months. We also have more tropical moisture over us this time of the year.

The combination of daytime heating (which creates lift and instability), the east and west coast sea breezes pushing inland, which provides lift and a catalyst point, and the moisture in the atmosphere makes for the perfect storm (haha) for afternoon thunderstorms to erupt.

Question: Why is it so humid at night versus the daytime?

Rebecca: Hotter air (daytime) holds more moisture than cooler air (night time) so the air is closer to its maximum capacity of moisture that it can hold when it cools down at night. It’s the same amount of moisture, most of the time, but it feels different because of the concentration. Like a cup of salt might be pleasant in an entire pot of low country boil, but a cup of salt on your dinner plate of food feels entirely different.

Question: What makes some clouds darker than others?

Rebecca: Clouds don’t actually have any color at all — it is all your position in relation to the cloud and the sun. Brighter white clouds appear that way because you are on the same side of the cloud and light particles are bouncing off of the ice crystals in the clouds and appear white. Dark, angry looking cloud? It’s blocking the sun and creating a shadow, appearing dark in color.

Question: What happens if the storms get close to each other on Tuesday? Do they shear each other apart? Does one absorb the other? Does one dissipate the other?

Rebecca: By nature they generally repel each other. If one were significantly stronger than the other, it could shear the weaker system and absorb the moisture from the weaker system, appearing to kind of suck it in.

Question: What led you to become a meteorologist?

Rebecca: I’ve always, always, always loved the weather, but galvanizing moments for me were forest fires as a child. My father’s side of the family has a timber business and a forest fire can endanger your livelihood. So long droughts and which ways the wind would blow when there was a fire were my first weather lessons.

Also my uncle was lost at sea during bad weather during a fishing tournament — and it haunted our family. I learned at a very young age that the more you know about weather, you could save lives and livelihoods.

Question: Why is the center of a storm calm?

Rebecca: It is the lowest pressure point in the storm. All air is traveling toward that point, and because of the Coriolis force (the spinning of the earth), all of that air traveling to the center is rotating counter-clockwise (north of the equator). So much like a giant whirlpool going down a drain, all of the water is swirling around the outside, but the center is calm and dry.

Question: Why are some areas of Jacksonville hit with extreme rain yet in the same storm others are never flooded?

Rebecca: Part of that has to do with how high the area is and how fast that area drains. The other factor is that storms don’t have the same consistency throughout in terms of rainfall, some areas have much heavier rainfall than others. Weather system are usually lopsided, with one rainy side to the storm.

Question: What is the wackiest storm name you have ever had to report on?

Rebecca: Isaias.... pronounced EEEE-SAH-EEE-US. Although I got a super huge kick out of Tropical Storm Rebekah last year.

Question: Why does the San Marco area have extreme rain yet the Springfield and Eastside areas barely get any rain in that same storm?

Rebecca: I think San Marco appears to get more rain because it floods so easily and drains so slowly, the same storm and rainfall may feel different. The other factor that may make San Marco’s rainfall actually a little higher is the sea breeze. Some afternoons I-95 in Duval is about where the east coast sea breeze has pushed inland to, and if western moving storms collided with the sea breeze, there it would slow down or stop moving forward, resulting in heavier rain for that area.

Question: Do we miss some storms because we are inland off the coast a bit?

Rebecca: Yep! This area is the westernmost point on the east coast, it helps a little!

Question: I’m new to the area. Is now a good time to plant a vegetable garden?

Rebecca: I think if you chose fall vegetables, you have enough time, especially if you don’t start from seeds. Broccoli, lettuces, carrots, Brussels sprouts, radishes.

Question: How/why do hurricanes cause tornadoes?

Rebecca: The bands of rain moving onshore create spin up tornadoes because as the storms in the band of rain move onshore, they encounter a lot more friction, which slows the surface level winds down. But the upper level winds are still going faster, which creates shear and rotation, which sometimes creates a tornado from that rotation.

Question: Why does this year seem hotter than most summers?

Rebecca: On average, we are actually trending cooler than average this summer — check out Mark Collins’ article on how we are stacking up heat-wise this year in the “Weather News” section.

Question: Don’t know if they still call it heat lightning, but how is that different?

Rebecca: There’s actually no such thing as heat lightning. It’s regular lightning, it’s just so far away you can’t hear the thunder. Most of the time it’s cloud-to-cloud lightning strikes, not cloud-to-ground, so you can see it for miles and miles.

Question: In Jacksonville’s history, has the city had extreme hurricane damage widespread? Or has it only been in the Jacksonville Beach areas?

Rebecca: Well, Hurricane Irma certainly did quite a bit of non-Beaches damage. Hurricane Charley in 2005 left some areas without power for three weeks. It came from the Gulf near Tampa and we saw several tornadoes as a result, so yes we do see inland damage.

Question: When do you see the rain stopping for a few days?

Rebecca: We may get a few drier days here and there, but it will be several weeks until we break out of our summertime weather pattern. But HEY! We are 1 month and 12 days away from when our average overnight lows are in the mid 60s!