30 September 2009

Charleston Lows

From the looks of it tonight that high pressure is building into the Charleston area creating the warm air inversion aloft. If this holds true this should create a blocking of the upper level winds so that warm layer wont be able to mix out, this added to the clear skies over night will contribute to the radiational cooling overnight. Therefore, I believe the models are slightly high on the over night temperatures considering nearly no on or off shore winds at the surface contributing to radiational cooling and the subsidence of the high into the region. Then again I could be way off!

Suaave~

28 September 2009

Let's do the Charleston!

We will be forecasting for Charleston for the next two weeks. Here are some useful information about the site

Identifier KCHS
Normal High 82-79°F
Normal Low 62-58°F
Latitude 32.89°N
Longitude -80.04°W
Normal Wind 7 knots
Elevation 15 m
Normal Precipitation 0.11-0.16"


Discussion:

A robust cold front with sweep across the SE US today. This front lacks the moisture punch to create any significant precip. Temperatures and winds will be the main concerns for this FROPA. Charleston CWA will be situated on the southern edge of the large upper-level trough so I do not foresee any significant change in the weather for the next 48 hrs. Temperatures and winds will be seasonal and precip chances are slim to none and slim just left town. Winds will be offshore for a good part of the week. Our next significant weather event will come this weekend as a disturbance moves across the Carolinas.

On a forecast side note, my experience with forecasting coastal locations W.R.T. winds has been quite challenging. My rule of thumb is to bump the forecast wind speed by at least a few knots since we are forecasting for max 2-min wind over a 24 hour period and not a hourly observation.

~Ng