Back To Home
The Story Behind the Weather - By Forecaster John
Ensworth M.S. -
The Discussion of Weather Events Daily for Philadelphia and Pennsylvania
Last updated: 09/14/2003 02:41 PM
Good Afternoon Philadelphia!
The weather is very quiet now over the area and pretty mild. A very nice weekend indeed!
The infrared satellite view shows high clouds spreading over the area from the southwest, but there isn't any rain nearby.
The high pressure system that drove our last cool front overhead is approaching from the west. We have very mild winds and nice temperatures.
Winds are light from the west with the clockwise circulation around the high.
And temperatures are in the 70's this late afternoon.
Former Tropical Storm Henri is forecast to go out to sea, but the story isn't written yet. It could still play a factor in our weather Tuesday/Wednesday. We'll watch that.
The reason for this nice weather is the departing east coast trough and the approaching big ridge (you get sinking air on the east side of the ridge - making it hard for clouds and rain to form.
And into the future, you see the ridge still coming Sunday AM.
And no rain...
The ridge is closer Monday AM...
And STILL no rain...
And the ridge almost on top of us Tuesday. This speaks of a coming warm-up. We could see 90's again. Sorry. Summer isn't quite gone yet.
And there are showers on the coast due to Henri to our south, but nothing here.
So- until we know what the topics may do to us, enjoy this nice cool dry weather!
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. |
|||