Today there isn't anything too exciting going on in Eau Claire. There is about 90% cloud cover of cumulus humulus clouds, there are also some cirrostratus clouds you can see above them. We have winds coming from the north west which you can see on the wind map below. There is a high pressure cell to our west, which is causing us to be receiving air from the continental tropical air mass. I predict that it will rain later on today or early tomorrow because the air from Ct will contain moisture, also the barometric pressure is dropping which clues me into the fact that we will have precipitation as well. I predict it wont be until after 8 or 9pm though at the earliest.

You can see the east coast is getting hammered by rain storms today. This is due to the low pressure systems moving through which are bringing up air from the Mt air mass-the air mass that seems to always bring with it rain storms because it holds so much moisture and warm air after coming from the gulf of mexico.

Spring Storms!

Today when I woke up it looked as though it would be a beautiful day, but after class some stratus clouds were blanketing the sky, and when I left work early afternoon (about 1pm) there were BEAUTIFUL textbook cumulus clouds in the sky and I knew that we were going to be in for a rainstorm this afternoon! The majority were cumulus congestus and they continued to grow as the afternoon went on. My prediction was that we would get a pretty intense rain storm this afternoon. I was partially right-it did rain, and the black storm clouds made it look like it was going to thunderstorm; however, they blew over us and we only received precipitation.

Here is a picture that I took this afternoon of the cumulus clouds!

Looking out my window, it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day! The sun is shining and the birds are chirping; however, there are some cumulus clouds in the sky which could mean we might be in for yet another rain storm!

Based on this surface map, I can see that we had yet another rain storm move through last night while I was sleeping. You can see the mid-atlantic states are getting hit with a storm that is trailing the cold front from the low pressure system. They might be in for some flooding and severe weather today, as it is currently a stable front. We discussed that when there is a stable front associated with a low pressure system (especially when you can see that there is this much activity from it) that is when severe weather happens because the warm, moist, air keeps filtering into the same area.

We are getting winds from the north which means its less likely that we will be receiving precipitation today because we dont have the warm air feeding in from the south. We are, however, located in a trough that is developing as these low pressure systems move south which means that the temperature will be a cooler than it has been the last week. The air will also be drier because we don't have the humidity from the Ct air mass, but rather the dry air from the Cp air mass-which is fine with me!

Here is a screen shot of the wind map from today. This is a great example of how the winds are moving in relation to the fronts and air masses around the United States. you can see where the two high pressure systems are in the northeast and the northwest because there is little wind there because it is all moving to areas of low pressure. You can see the cold/stable front associated with the mid-atlantic rain storms, and you can see how the wind is moving around the low pressure systems in the south. It's almost better than looking at a surface map because you can visually see all of the movement (when you're viewing it in real time).

Changing Wind Directions

This week has been a great week to see how the cloud patterns can show what the weather will be like the following day. Earlier this week, on tuesday afternoon, I noticed the clouds starting to break apart and look patterned-which is a sign of changing wind direction. Since it was really nice on tuesday and I knew from the weather briefing earlier that day that we were on the south side of a low pressure system, I was able to predict that the system was now moving over us and we would be experiencing cooler temperatures on wednesday-I was correct! I was even correct in predicting that we would have precipitation as it moved through. I was in the Haas design lab until 5:30am, and when I left I noticed that it had recently rained, so sometime during the night as the low pressure system and warm front were moving over us, it rained.

Here is a surface map of wednesday, to show that we were on the backside of the low pressure system. It makes sense that it was slightly to the west of us because temperatures didn't drastically drop as they would have if we had been more directly behind the cold front.

It happened again yesterday! I noticed the same type of clouds and predicted that today would be cool-low and behold I awoke to a sky blanketed in stratus clouds and temperatures that made it chilly even in a sweatshirt and pants! I really like that I have been able to pick up on these patterns because this will be extremely useful to know what type of weather to expect in days to come incase I am planning on being outside!

It's funny because on both of these occasions I was with friends, and shared this information with them. They brushed it off like I didn't know what I was talking about, and then the next day, when my predictions had been correct, they were impressed that I was right and wished they knew these types of things too :)

I fell like when we originally learned about these types of clouds, it was supposed to signal changing winds in a good way, that the next day would be nicer. But I have come to notice that it depends on what type of pressure system is near you and also what the weather previously was. If its really nice out, and the winds start changing, chances are its going to become cooler. If its already pretty crappy out and the winds start changing, the new wind direction will push out the crappy weather and it will get nicer!

Here is a surface map of today:

Today is supposed to get up to 50 degrees, which is nice, but not as nice as yesterday! I woke up and it looks like we have some stratus clouds blanketing the sky. we have winds coming from the east/southeast at about 10 mph. Because of this I expect that at some point today it will rain. After looking at barometric trends I noticed that the pressure has been pretty inconsistant, but is currently falling. I think that if this stays consistant that one of the times it starts falling we will see a little bit of precipitation.

The surface map shows that there a low pressure system just to our west that has two stationary fronts extending from it. Because of this I will expect this weather to hold consistant today until these stationary front develop. After this begins to move I predict that we will have precipitation while it passes and then our temperatures will drop because the cold front trailing the low pressure system will allow the arctic winds to hit us.

On the surface map you can also see that the isobars from the south are extending further north above the warm front extending from our low pressure system. This is because the moisture associated with a  system like this comes from the south and often will cause thunderstorms and rain just north of the warm front. This explains why our relative humidity is 80% today, as our air is thick with moisture from the Maritime Tropical air mass!

Also, I was curious to see how our atmospheric stability was incase we might be in for a thunderstorm today! But as it turns out, our atmosphere is stable and we will probably just receive precipitation.

I spent the weekend in Minneapolis touring design studios and having one-on-one interviews with professional designers. although I didn't have internet while we were there that doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention to the weather! Saturday there were some crazy looking cumulus congestus clouds and sure enough, it began raining that afternoon and didn't stop until very late saturday night. Yesterday on my drive home from Minneapolis I noticed there was a mackerel sky which means that the winds are changing- today the weather should be nice!

I woke up to sun shining through my window and very little cloud cover. Temperatures are supposed to get up to 60 degrees today! we have winds coming from the North. The rest of the day should be nice and I predict that tomorrow will be nice weather too.

Storms!

It has been a crazy weekend for weather in the midwest! Towards the end of last week the temperatures were down in the 40s, then it jumped yesterday to the 60-70 range, and it was back down to 35 degrees and snowing this morning!! Because of all of these cold and warm fronts moving through, the air has been mixing a lot causing conditions to be unstable. Yesterday we spent most of the day under a tornado watch-this is because since the cold air was coming in it was displacing the warm air which was causing it to mix and form a mid latitude cyclone-which can result in a tornado. Luckily, we didn't have any tornadoes-but we did experience off and on rain and some ferocious looking Cumulus clouds!

Today the day began cloudy and it was lightly snowing! We had winds coming from the northwest at about 10-15mph and the atmosphere was conditionally unstable. By looking at the sky I would have predicted it to rain through out the day, but after looking at a map you can see that since the cold front has passed it is not likely to precipitate because we are on the backside of the storm.

MONDAY MORNING STABILITY

MONDAY EVENING

TUESDAY MORNING
The conditions right now are stable, no clouds, no wind, moderate temperature. It appears as though it will stay this way throughout the day as there is a stable front that has formed to our west-just to the northeast of the Rocky Mountains.

Tornadoes

Today there is the possibility for developing tornadoes in the middle United States. This is because the high pressure system located in the midwest is causing dry winds to shoot towards states such as Kansas, and Nebraska. These dry winds combined with the moist air coming up from the continental tropical air mass and the jet stream from the west will cause a lot of mixing of air which will provide the perfect opportunity for tornadoes to form.

In the midwest we have no wind, no clouds. However, I expect that throughout the day we can expect to see more cloud coverage moving in from the west because since the High pressure system is tour our south east, we will be getting winds from the west-which you can see on the map below has clouds and some rain showers. Another reason I am led to believe that it will rain later is because the barometric pressure is dropping, which means we can expect precipitation.

Brrr!

This morning we had cumulus humulus clouds to our north, and clear skies to our south. Although it looked like it was warm, the winds make it very cold! When I walked outside and felt them, it was obvious to me that the winds were coming from the north/northwest. I was correct! Another thing contributing to our cold winds today is the fact that we are currently in a trough. You can see in the map below that the jet stream is dipping down across the middle united states allowing the cold arctic winds to have a nice path straight to us. There is a stable front located on the west edge of this trough, which leads me to believe that it will be a while before these cold winds pass through.

Weather Blog #17

The weather this week has been really interesting to follow! This spring weather changes much more than the weather we had during the winter months. There have been a lot of changes in wind patterns in the last week because of all the low pressure systems passing under us. 

Here are some maps from monday afternoon. You can see there is a low pressure system to our south west causing us to have winds from the southeast. Whenever there are winds coming from this direction you can be prepared for precipitation. In the morning we had stratus clouds and as the day went on they became alto stratus clouds-this made me wonder if we would possibly be seeing precipitation later because this is part of the warm-front sequence.

sure enough, Monday night we had a crazy thunderstorm! Here are the maps from around midnight-right before the storm hit! You can see the barometer decreasing which means that precipitation is coming, we are also continuing to get winds from the southeast. It's interesting because the storm we had sounded pretty intense, but these maps and charts don't show anything that looks much different from those I have from earlier in the day. How can weathermen predict how severe a storm is going to be?

FRIDAY

This morning the sky was covered in stratus clouds. There is no precipitation, and we are still receiving winds from the east because there is now a string of low pressure systems that have developed to our south. Because of this I anticipate that for the next day or two we will have off and on rain and cloudy conditions-this is bad news for me because I have a lacrosse tournament this weekend!! The water vapor map shows that there is a lot of moisture in the atmosphere right now, which further backs up my statement that we will be continuing to receive precipitation for a while.

THURSDAY

Today on my walk to class there was a mackerel sky, which signals there is a change in wind pattern! The winds were now coming from the east, which means that we can probably expect rain in the next 24 hours! If the winds from the east aren’t enough of a hint that rain is on the way, the barometer was dropping all day, which means that precipitation is in the near future. Although the day was beautiful, around 11:30pm it began to rain. I’ve never had the opportunity to look at weather maps while its been raining, so I took this moment to gather the following charts:

You can see that the low pressure system to our southwest is bringing the storm with it-and it is the reason why we are getting winds from the east. Since low pressure systems rotate counter clockwise, the eastern winds above it were affecting us. As soon as it passes we can be expecting winds from the west, as well as clearing conditions for a while-at least along the lines of precipitation.

Weather Blog #16

Although I have not posted in the last couple weeks it does not mean I haven't been paying attention to the weather! I spent most of the last two weeks without internet because I participated in a class in New York through the UWEC art & design department, so I do not have graphs and charts to back up my findings, but I do have a few photos of clouds that I took myself!

I'm starting to find it a little easier to predict how the day is going to go based on the cloud patterns in the morning, and when I'm correct it's really exciting!!

My first experience with this was two weeks ago when the warm front came through for the first time ( I believe it was tuesday, march 13th). I spent my day in the graphic design lab, but each time I looked out the window I saw a different type of cloud. By the time it was sunset it dawned on me that it was a warm front cloud pattern! The day began with cirrus clouds, moved into altostratus and then stratus clouds. I said to the friends I was with that it was going to rain before morning and they didn't believe me-but low and behold when we left the lab at 2:30am to go get a snack it was pouring rain!

Another experience that I had was last week in New York City. In the morning there were cumulus humulus clouds scattered across the sky and I told everyone to watch them because if they began to grow taller it would mean rain. Throughout the day they got bigger and covered more of the sky, and there was a little bit of vertical development so I said that we could probably expect some rain in the next day. The next morning when we woke up to go to Good Morning America it was raining! Here is a picture of the cumulus humulus clouds that I had seen the day before:

Weather Blog #15

Today was extremely warm! We had clear skies in the morning, but as the day progressed we saw more and more clouds until finally around sunset the cloud was about 80% covered with stratus clouds. I believe that I was watching a warm front approaching-which means that we should see precipitation soon. When a warm front approaches, it gets warmer (obviously) which happened today, also it begins with cirrus clouds, then cirrostratus then altocirrus then stratus (which is what we saw around 7pm) then nimbostratus-which should appear by tomorrow. Also, we were recieving winds from the south-and usually when wind direction is anywhere from northeast to south you can expect precipitation within the next day.

THURSDAY

I was correct in predicting that the weather will continue to get cooler, and also in expecting our barometric pressure to rise! We have broken clouds today-and many different types! It looks like there are some altocumulus clouds, and some cirrus clouds. Although this wind map shows winds of only about 10mph coming form the northwest, they picked up as the day went on and by 6pm they had to be at least 25-30mph, and very cold!

The east coast is getting a storm today. I believe it is from the same system that caused it to rain here the other day. As the storm moved towards the east, it started receiving wind from the continental tropical air mass, and since warm air  can hold more moisture that cool air, the storm appears to have grown and it looks like the east coast is getting more precipitation than we did.

WEDNESDAY

Today is cold and rainy. We were correct in predicting that it would rain today! We have 100% cloud cover-nimbostratus clouds. We also have a cold front moving through and winds from the south/southwest at about 10 mph. As soon as the cold front passes through we will see a shift in wind direction because there is a high pressure system located to the northwest of us. This means that our winds will shift to northwest winds and it will continue to cool down because we will be receiving air from the continental polar air mass. Also, when our winds change we should expect clearing conditions because there are no clouds to our northwest. We can also expect our barometric pressure to start rising because we will be receiving air molecules that are trying to even out the high/low pressure discrepancies, therefore our pressure will increase.

TUESDAY

Today we have some interesting weather going on. We have cirrus clouds and winds from the east which means that precipitation is going to come in the next day. I learned that generally when we have winds anywhere from the NE to SE we can expect to see precipitation. Our atmosphere is conditionally unstable right now because the yellow line stays in between the two white lines for a long period of time before crossing over to the left of them. The day was really nice-we had temperatures in at least the 40s, very little wind, and clear skies. It’s too bad I’m busy all day because it would be great to spend some time outside!

MONDAY 

Today was overcast. We had winds at about 10mph from the south.  We are getting winds from the south because there is a high pressure system to our south and a low pressure system to our north west, therefore the winds are rushing from high to low pressure which is why we have winds from the south. Aside from this, there really isn’t much going on in the country right now-a couple of low pressure systems are on the edges of the country-one in the northwest and one out on the east coast. 

Weather Blog #14

Today we had overcast skies-in the morning it appeared to be stratuscumulus but as of late afternoon they seem to be just stratus clouds. we are getting wind from the southwest which is driving the cold front from the colorado region towards us. also the temperature is in the mid-high 30s-all the snow from last weeks storm is starting to melt!

The barometric pressure is rising so we should see a stop in precipitation and clearing throughout the night.