Thursday, May 10, and radar rings.

Tonight, is my last post. I have weather observations from earlier (actually some from February that I found while cleaning up my room, but I won't go there...) and even a few old pics to prove it! Anyway, I will probably go ahead and put those up... soon... for old times sake? Anyway, I have a question for the viewer(s) tonight that my buddy Derrick brought up to me a couple of times now and practically features on his (and my) surface map tonight.

Do you see all of those circles?What ARE those? I would guess that it has to do with the doppler, perhaps some sort of distortion around the edge of each station's range... but don't the stations have overlapping ranges? So shouldn't this not happen? and why does it only happen some of the time? What causes it? Food for thought? This yahoo doesn't know, but this source thinks that similar rings (but not necessarily the same) are caused by melting snow in the upper atmosphere. Even this seemingly reputable fellow had no clue. Well after about 20 minutes I finally somehow stumbled across what seems to be the answer... and quite frankly I am a bit surprised that I did not find it sooner. It seems that this is a problem in 3d Weather imaging as well, to which the answer is a mis-computation of data derived from the radar, which does not actually check the region directly overhead, and data from other radar stations and analysis is needed to come up with the final surface map. So, is this the answer for the phenomena reproduced above? I can't say. But this is what I have found. So I'm calling it problem solved for now.

Oh yeah, weather was warm tonight at 70° F with winds of 10 mph form the South. You can clearly see that cold front coming in with some rain, if that High doesn't stall on the edge of the Rockies (dont see why it would, it's pretty well out of them now), then it will help push the Low-fueled storms out of the way and will weaken the Low which is relatively close to it. The storms are compressed along that front so they will be strong and short, afterwards we can look forward to some sun for a few days. Peace out.

*edit... turns out those spots are from lack of data. I guess there's my answer. fun fact. Not sure I believe it though, I mean, look at the number of simultaneous stations that haven't reported data. And then how is the moisture figured in?

Wed, May 9

Today had some scattered clouds, which probably depressed the temperature a bit to keep the high down at 65°F, a little under average. As the clouds broke up this afternoon, the temps climbed. I was a bit worried at some of the thunderheads rolling along, but the winds (which were pretty steady today, down to 4mph from the NNW now) kept them from hanging around too long. There are some very light residual cirrocumulus, which is a fantastic sign for good weather tomorrow. Looking ahead: we have some Lows developing in the Rockies, which hopefully get held up there for a bit, but an unusually long cold front has developed from MT into Alberta which looks like it may be bringing the cold in a couple days, tomorrow should still be gorgeous though! that would have to be one fast storm, one might say it'd have to clip pretty fast to get here tomorrow!

Mon, May 7

Today was nice, and tomorrow will be nicer. As the low pressure system moves East and the jet ridge recedes north, the weather is going to look very nice for us. The clouds from the departing system depressed temperatures on the surface today by dampening insolation, so the high only reached 69° today (it is currently 63°). There are still some cumulus humilis (a good sign) in the sky as the sun sets, with light cirrus in the upper cloud deck. winds are at 11 mph. out of the West. The storms of last weekend head East. 

Looking ahead, Highs rolling in from the west will ensure that the next couple of days are very sunny. If you've been planning a picnic ahead of finals, this would be the time to go. We should be clear through tomorrow, and with nothing but highs coming from the Rockies maybe for the rest of the week. That is, if you stay in Wisconsin.

Sat, May 5 and Sun May 6

Happy Cinco De Mayo folks, sorry about the weather. Not very fiesta-y. Skies cleared up this evening, but left us with some cool temps (58°F muchachos!). Fortunately things cleared up nice for a sunny Sunday.... no wait that didn't happen either. Despite a clear Saturday evening, anoher Low had us wake up to stratus as far as the eye can bear to see on Sunday and brought us a high of 58° (or 52° at the observation) along with more rain in the mid afternoon thru the evening. Nasty. Happy 5th.

Fri, May 4

Today was just another decent-starting day ruined by late inclement weather. The clouds began rolling in mid afternoon (sooner if you count those cirrus) and we saw some sprinkles while at work today. At least it's warm. Temps are at 70° right now, winds from the southeast are bringing up more moist, warm air that we can look forward to seeing the effects of over tomorrow before the Low leaves us completely.

Thurs, May 3

Today was craziness. I was not expecting the rain to hit this way, but it did. It felt like perhaps a squall line hit us... When I went into the shower this afternoon it wasn't even drizzling, and when I came back to my room it looked as though my building was in the car wash. I got some photos of the storm receding, but my camera isn't working at the moment....
Anyhow, it is 63°, winds are almost gone at 5 mph. skies are clearing up (after that second batch of far less intense drizzle hit us this evening), and we are in for a good start tomorrow but nothing special, perhaps some precipitation as the Low mentioned on Wednesday moves in.

Wed, Mar 2

Finally, that anit-cyclonic Low brings me my summer weather!!! It's been nice and warm all day, at 78° right now. The clouds developed this afternoon and brought the rain that should be expected with this warm moist southern air. Speaking of heat, you know what wasn't warm? Last month. It says so right here. Things weren't quite as extreme here, bu tin Cleveland the weather last month was colder than March for the first time in 50 years.Last month was also a bad time for insurance companies, as those snowstorms and -especially- tornadoes brought down the hurt. So, Jan and Feb were sweet, April sucked, and May? Who knows, but it's a happy start. Right now, the rain has passed and only a few cumulostratus remain on the horizon, winds are still clipping at 15 mph bu that will go down here soon. More weather on the way folks, that Low over Idaho will hit us in the next couple days (barring the stationary front stay where it is... I suppose they are CALLED stationary fronts for a reason...).