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The Story Behind the Weather - By Forecaster John
Ensworth M.S. -
The Discussion of Weather Events Daily for Philadelphia and Pennsylvania
Last updated: 04/08/2004 09:38 PM
Good Afternoon Philadelphia!
I'm glad to announce that these
discussions will continue until at least the end of February
(it's a short month)!
I
have the necessary server space (especially with missed days!).
In short: Clearing skies as this low passes, then rain returns Sunday.
In long: The surface map shows the low associated with last week's southwestern US storm. Behind it is cooler and drier air.
The radar shows one more good blob of light to moderate rain moving towards and past us. The light blue blobs are actually false radar returns, not rain at all.
The infrared satellite view shows that most of the energy (circled) is to our south east (with the colder and bluer clouds, including further southeast of that region). The last bit of energy is just passing us now.
By Friday afternoon, the low is to the east and a front has spread over most of the eastern half of the country. Cooler, drier air spreads in.
Then for Saturday morning, a high is centered on us giving us mostly clear and cool conditions. Our Sunday rain is brewing over Oklahoma as this forecast map speaks.
Sorry it's so brief tonight, but I gotta run...!
I'll see you again Friday.
Meteorologist John Ensworth
Surface Station sky cover color key:
Flight category definitions:| Category | Ceiling | Visibility | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low Instrument Flight Rules LIFR* (magenta circle |
below 500 feet AGL | and/or | less than 1 mile |
| Instrument Flight Rules IFR (red circle |
500 to below 1,000 feet AGL | and/or | 1 mile to less than 3 miles |
| Marginal Visual Flight Rules MVFR (blue circle) |
1,000 to 3,000 feet AGL | and/or | 3 to 5 miles |
| Visual Flight Rules VFR+ (green circle) |
greater than 3,000 feet AGL | and | greater than 5 miles |
| *By definition, IFR is ceiling less than 1,000 feet
AGL and/or visibility less than 3 miles while LIFR
is a sub-category of IFR. +By definition, VFR is ceiling greater than or equal to 1,000 feet AGL and visibility greater than or equal to 3 miles while MVFR is a sub-category of VFR. |
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