Streamers?

jd

It's interesting to see how streamers of snow showers can originate from a particular point over the sea for a few hours. What is it that make streamers originate from one point rather than another?
I'm not sure if it is a suitable analogy, but in a bottle of soft drink you can see bubbles originating from the same point in a similar fashion, the bubbles forming where there is some imperfection on the surface. Do streamers originate from some discontinuity in the atmosphere/sea?

Popoutman

To my knowledge it's a little bit chaotic (in the mathematical sense of the word).
The streamers form when there's a bubble of warm damp air overlaid by much colder air creating an unstable situation and there's also a relatively gentle wind blowing. The warm bubble of air is being blown gently away from the warming source. Once a portion of that warm air starts to rise, the rising air makes it easier for the warm air around it to rise along that path upwards instead of fighting hte cold air that is then draughting down beside the warm updraught.
When the wind is blowing the warm air away from the heat source, the newly-warmed air will find it easier to rise where the previously rising air was. This reinforces the rising air, and combining with the wind, gives rise to the streamer effect.