IEM Daily Feature
Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Cold Profile
Posted: 14 Mar 2023 05:30 AM
Monday was a very raw and not at all spring break like March day for Iowa. Much of the state stayed
below 32 degrees Fahrenheit for the entire day! When it is cold at the surface, it is often interesting to
look aloft to see how cold it is there as well. The featured chart presents mandatory level sounding
temperature percentiles for the Omaha sounding from Monday morning. Indeed, the temperature
percentiles aloft are cold as well for March, but you may wonder why things reverse as you reach 400
hPa and higher levels. The reason is when the lower atmosphere is colder than average, the thickness
as measured by distance between pressure levels decreases and pressure levels higher up occur at
lower altitudes. Temperatures are warmer at lower altitudes and so the temperatures reported at a
given pressure level are higher.
Voting:
Good = 7
Bad = 0
Tags: sounding
Voting:
Good = 7
Bad = 0
Tags: sounding