Building the Weather Story
Recall our findings from the METAR, tephigram, and SYNOPS: stability at low levels, calm winds, drier conditions aloft and stratified low-level clouds.
Based on the satellite imagery, how would you change your mental model about the current conditions? (Select all that apply.)
The correct answers are A, B, and C.
The areal coverage of the low clouds shows that they are relatively widespread. It seems that the low clouds will persist at least overnight and may reduce radiational cooling at the surface and thus the chance of formation of fog. However, we have not yet looked at numerical weather prediction (NWP) data to see how the wind field is expected to change. In addition, the dew point depression at the airport is only one degree, so very little cooling is necessary for fog to initiate.
Next, we will look at some of the NWP data available for 00 UTC and evaluate how well the model depicts the weather situation.