WEATHER BLOG #8

Although I have been having trouble posting every day (as I am in dance, lacrosse, NOTA, have 3 jobs and 15 credits) I have been saving weather maps each day and trying to write down a few quick notes while I'm on my way from activity to activity so that when I have time to write in my blog I will have the information I need!

WEDNESDAY
-to be inserted later this afternoon-

THURSDAY
9:15AM

Today it is beginning to warm back up again. it is a high of 37 degrees. We have winds coming from the west at about 10mph.

We also have 100% cloud cover. The couds look like they are Altostratus. According to Field Guide to Weather these clouds mean that there is moisture and temperatures that range from slightly colder than to slightly warmer than freezing. In order for these clouds to occur there has to be a continuous wind pattern because it has to go through gradual lifting until saturation occurs. This makes sense because we have had winds coming from the west/northwest almost every day for the last week.

Although these clouds are formed because of moisture being in the sky, it doesn't necessarily mean precipitation. The book says that if they are increasing over time that there may be precipitation coming, but if they are remaining the same, than they probably wont do anything.

My personal goal today is to watch the clouds to see if they change-and whether or not that results in precipitation.

Reading this helps me understand why last Saturday why the on again off again precipitation we had was occurring. I noticed that there would be cloud cover, then it would go away. Then more would roll in, then they would go away. My prediction is that it was caused by these types of clouds and since they were changing and increasing as the day went on, they were bringing precipitation with them.

OBSERVATIONS FROM LAST POST
-I was interested to see that we got precipitation on monday, because the water vapor charts showed no evaporation in our area. In other areas of the country where it was snowing/raining they all had visible water vapor above them on the map. I was wondering that afternoon why it was snowing here? Now after reading about clouds today, I wonder if it had something to do with that-possibly the place where our winds were coming from had evaporation that blew down to us-therefore precipitating on us.