IEM Daily Feature
Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Windy When Warm

Posted: 17 Mar 2015 05:43 AM

Temperatures soared on Monday with highs exceeding 80 degrees for much of the state. Sioux City was able to reach 90! Strong winds were also present with the very warm temperatures, which as shown by the featured chart is very common when temperatures get this warm in March. The chart shows the frequency of having a 10+ knot wind speed present at a given temperature in March. As temperatures increase, the chance that strong winds are present increases as well. Restating, strong winds are necessary to help produce very warm conditions in March. On the cold end of temperatures, the opposite is true. Brisk winds at night time help to keep the lower atmosphere mixed and near surface air temperatures are not able to cool to very cold levels.

Voting:
Good = 19
Bad = 8
Abstain = 2

Tags:   wind   temps