[Pollinator] FW: [WQ News] A Strange Cloud Over St. Louis Turns Out to Be an Enormous Swarm of Butterflies

[Kelly Rourke]

Thanks to Larry Stritch for passing on this incredible announcement!

----------------____________________________________________________________
______________________________


CityLab <http://www.citylab.com/> 


A Strange Cloud Over St. Louis Turns Out to Be an Enormous Swarm of
Butterflies


In a weird twist, the swarm itself resembles a huge butterfly.

*	John Metcalfe <http://www.citylab.com/authors/john-metcalfe/> 
*	@citycalfe <https://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=citycalfe> 
*	Sep 22, 2014

(Michael Warwick <http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-975647p1.html>
/Shutterstock.com <http://www.shutterstock.com/> ) 

Late last week, meteorologists in St. Louis noticed a cloud acting
peculiarly: It was beating a path toward Mexico while changing into a
variety of odd shapes. Was it a radar glitch? The debris signature of a
south-moving tornado?

The answer was more heartening-and bizarre. After analyzing the reflections,
the National Weather Service concluded they showed an immense swarm of
Monarch butterflies migrating to their winter home in the Mexican mountains:

(NWS St. Louis <https://www.facebook.com/NWSStLouis/posts/823126227719190> )


Here's how it technically arrived at that conclusion
<https://www.facebook.com/NWS/posts/10153480982684041> , for the weather
geeks out there:

Keen observers of our radar data probably noticed some fairly high returns
moving south over southern Illinois and central Missouri. High differential
reflectivity values as well as low correlation coefficient values indicate
these are most likely biological targets. High differential reflectivity
indicates these are oblate targets, and low correlation coefficient means
the targets are changing shape. We think these targets are Monarch
butterflies. A Monarch in flight would look oblate to the radar, and
flapping wings would account for the changing shape! NWS St. Louis wishes
good luck and a safe journey to these amazing little creatures on their long
journey south!

North America's Monarch population has been in decline, reaching record-low
numbers
<http://www.citylab.com/weather/2013/08/tracking-years-dismally-small-monarc
h-migration/6495/>  in the past couple of years due to habitat loss and
perhaps extreme weather. These radar shots provide a spot of good news in
that, while struggling, the Monarchs aren't extinct quite yet. Indeed,
people on the weather service's Facebook page have reported seeing them
fluttering around the region. "They are flying over my Missouri home today,"
says one. Adds another: "I have been seeing some coming thru OKC in the last
week or so. They are beautiful."

Also beautiful-and strange-is that the shape of the swarm itself resembles a
giant butterfly. The last time that sort of radar coincidence happened may
have been in 2011, when thousands of birds formed into a bird shape
<http://www.wjla.com/blogs/weather/2011/01/arkasas-radar-image-of-doomed-bir
ds-itself-looks-like-a-giant-bird-6849.html>  above Beebe, Arkansas, right
before falling out of the sky, dead
<http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/weathermatrix/4k-and-20-blackbi
rds-downed-from-the-sky/43945> .

(NWS St. Louis) 

-- 

Loretta Lohman, Ph.D.
Nonpoint Source Outreach Coordinator
Colorado State University 
Colorado Water Institute
3375 W. Aqueduct Avenue
Littleton, CO 80123
lorettalohman at gmail.com
loretta.lohman at colostate.edu
303-549-3063
www.npscolorado.com

 

 

Kelly Rourke

Program Associate

Pollinator Partnership

423 Washington Street, 5th Floor

San Francisco, CA 94111

e:  kr at pollinator.org

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