VISIT: Meteorological Interpretation Blog

The June 2008 copy of “The Front” newsletter highlights upcoming changes to the new Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) which is scheduled to go operational this November (2008).  See this site: www.weather.gov/os/aviation/taf_testbed.shtml for more information.  And speaking of TAFs, want to know just what happens to those TAFs you write?  Just what do the Center Weather Service Units Continue Reading

(Courtesy NASA/MODIS/TERRA – July 26, 2008) Jeff Braun Currently, California has 26 fire incidents…mostly across the northern half of the state.  Fourteen of these fires are considered large at the moment (= or > 100 acres…see following map). To date (this fire season – through July 30, 2008), over 750,000 acres of California have burned. Continue Reading

Jeff Braun This is just a brief reminder that it is monsoon/(FLASH) flood season here in Colorado and the rest of the Rocky Mountain West and adjacent High Plains.  While this region is no stranger to flooding conditions…particularly in the late spring and early summer when combined severe weather threats often aggravate the ongoing snow Continue Reading

Jeff Braun As Hurricane Dolly made its way into southern Texas July 24, 2008 with 100+ mph winds, drenching a 40 mile wide and 100mile long stretch, along and north of the Rio Grande River, with anywhere between 8 and 22 inches of rain, it heralded the true beginning of tropical cyclone season here in the lower 48.  Yes, the Continue Reading

(Courtesy NOAA/NWS – July 15, 2008) Jeff Braun Strong heating over the elevated (Mexican Plateau) desert southwest CONUS causes an area of low pressure to form known as a thermal low.  Since the air pressure is relatively higher over the nearly adjacent ocean areas (Gulf of California and the Tropical Pacific) to the south and west, air flow (from high Continue Reading

Jeff Braun Volcanoes, particularly volcanic ash, are major concerns to many of us in meteorology.  While the physical presence of the mountain and the energy expended during an eruption can be quite enormous, dangerous, and both life and property threating,  the atmospheric discharge of ash can also be a major hazard to aviation as well as the local Continue Reading

Jeff Braun With the main portion of Tropical Cyclone Season still around the corner (it’s slowly winding up), we thought we’d point you to the next generation of the operational TCFP product at: http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/projects/gparm/index.asp.  New features include: • Extended domain: The product has been extended to cover the Northern Hemisphere Central and West Pacific tropical cyclone basins. Continue Reading