Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Happy Canada Day from Brockville, the Birthplace of the Canadian Flag

There will be weather today!
Satellite imagery was always my "go-to" resource. Every line and swirl means something and diagnosing the atmosphere is just like reading a book. You just have to learn the vocabulary.
The attached early morning visible image is really useful - the sun casts shadows and allows one to fine the high convective tops. That prefrontal line through Peterborough is a concern for sure. Convection will fire along it first. The cold front is the line of convection casting a shadow west of Barrie and then linking to the thunderstorms north of Sudbury.
Note how eastern Ontario is clear! Hot and sunny weather at least to start. The thin cirrus over Brockville now will probably evapourate away except for the contrails.
The question is whether the atmosphere is capped in the low levels or not. If there is no capping inversion then cumulus clouds will form this morning and reduce the amount of heating. If cumulus is prevented from developing by a low level cap then the skies will stay sunny until the prefrontal line arrives later this afternoon. This would allow the sun to really charge up the atmosphere and load the canons for the thunderstorms. I suspect there is enough wind shear to organize the thunderstorms. There are some other important things I want to look at but I am retired and will sit back and enjoy the Canada Day Show. Boom...


1 comment:

Unknown said...

wow thanks for the heads up...dont quite understand all the terms, but interesting to have it explained! Happy Canada Day.