December 14, 2016

Weather on Friday 12/16 might affect our Saturday 12/17 Track Workout

The weekend email will come out shortly ”“ please vote on the poll if you plan to attend any of the events/clinics this weekend.

Purpose of this email ”“ weather may affect our workout plans for this weekend.  There is a 30% chance of snow on Friday from 6 pm to 12 am.   There is a 70% chance of freezing rain (or sleet) from 12 am to 12 pm (Saturday).   After 12 pm on Saturday it looks like it will be rain.

  • If we have any ice fall and in any way stick/not melt we will not have a track workout on Saturday morning.
  • Confirmation of having the track workout ”“ or otherwise ”“ will be sent out before 7:30 AM on Saturday.
  • It is not likely that Saturday’s clinic will be affected confirmation will also be provided by 7:30 AM on Saturday
  • Please check your email for updates on Saturday morning.

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In case you care to understand the difference”¦

Freezing rain is when water falls from the sky and turns to ice on contact to ground surfaces that are below freezing.  All ice is not good for running or riding, but freezing rain is the most dangerous if you ask me.   You can’t always see it”¦ “Black Ice” for example.   A track might look wet and appear not to have snow/ice on it”¦yet is treacherous.

Sleet is water that falls from the cloud and turns to ice as it falls through areas of colder air (before it meets the ground).   Usually these are small pellets.   Whether the sleet accumulates depends on the temperature of the ground.

Hail is when an object (like a piece of dirt/dust) has cold water freeze to it while it is circulating in a cloud.   Each cloud has updrafts”¦so water/objects circulate in circles from bottom up.   As circulation occurs ”“ there can be warmer areas and colder areas.   Water gets on the object (or small ice pellet) as it passes through the warmer air, and then freezes to it while it passes through the colder air.   On and on and on.   As the ice pellet circulates it gets bigger.  The ice then falls from the cloud when it is too heavy for the updrafts to keep it in circulation.   The stronger the updraft (and the longer the ice pellet stays in the cloud) ”¦the bigger the hail will be (Softball, golf ball, smaller”¦).