Texas Cold Front and Undular Bore - April 6, 2022
Early on the morning of April 6, 2022, an interesting weather phenomenon developed over portions of central and eastern Texas related to the passage of a cold front that was working across the region. This weather phenomenon is called an Undular Bore, more commonly known as gravity waves. It might sound a little ominous, but it is more fascinating than it is truly scary. If you were in east Texas this morning and saw some interesting-looking clouds, this was likely what you were seeing!
What is an Undular Bore?
You are probably saying, “I have never heard of an Undular Bore what in the world is that?!” If you are, no worries! It is likely you have never heard of an Undular Bore before unless you are someone who is in the meteorology field or interested in the weather, but there is nothing wrong with that. An Undular Bore is simply a wave or multiple waves that develop in our atmosphere when a front or boundary collides with a stable air mass. When that boundary hits that stable airmass, a ripple effect develops which is what you can see in the video above.
To picture this in another, maybe more relatable scenario, it is similar to what happens when you throw a stone into calm water. When that rock hits the water, a rippling effect develops radiating away from where that stone hit the water.
What makes this all the more fascinating is the fact that we can see or measure these types of events in several different ways through the use of both visual cues and instrumentation. Some visual cues would be physically seeing the interesting cloud formations or gravity waves in the clouds. They would look similar to those in the satellite imagery in the above video or the tweet below from the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama.
The other way we can see them is through the use of observations from radar, or the data collected from automated surface observation stations (ASOS) where they can show up in the wind, temperature, dewpoints, and pressure measurements. You can see an example of what that might look like below from an Undular Bore that went through the National Weather Service in St Louis back on March 26, 2018. If you would like to read more about that event, you can go to this link: Undular Bores Observed Across St. Louis Metropolitan Area
We’re curious! Did you see the gravity waves this morning in eastern Texas? If you did, we would love to see any photos or videos you might have captured! You can Tweet us your photos and video at https://twitter.com/LimitlessProdG!
