longranger
Well Known Member
IMHO, sealing tanks would be more fun than flying around this thing.
Tehachapi, CA, Nov. 14 2009
Tehachapi, CA, Nov. 14 2009
Weather noob here.... what is it?
Yep! My first thought when I saw that was "wahoo!"I bet the soaring guys were having fun though!
I bet the soaring guys were having fun though!
I'd say THIS is the mother ship!
Big thumbs up for Dr. Jack and his Forecasts. Since we don't have wave here on the southern plains we use the forecasts for thermal strength, boundary layer height, buoyancy / shear ratio (very important) and other soaring stuff.There is a meteorlogist/soaring pilot named John Glendening, also known as "Dr. Jack", that is experimenting with a computer weather modeling system known as "WRF" that can predict the olcation and strength of waves.
The cloud you photographed that day was also clearly visible, along
with it's shadow, on this beautiful picture from the Modis Aqua satellite.
It's a huge picture. You'll have to center it on the Tehachapi area to see the
cloud.
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?subset=AERONET_Fresno.2009318.aqua.250m
Thanks Alex! Very cool. I spent .... From the sat photo it looks like they were right down the Central Valley.
In looking at the photo, I noticed that about 100NM to the WNW (around Oceano) there is something that looks like a smoke trail from a fire in a valley and it appears the winds there are from the north east, almost PARALLEL to the ridge line generating the lenticular. Typical offshore flow; wouldn't that suggest a large high pressure area to the east? I wonder if the winds at the lenticular are what are indicated by the smoke plume or if there is such a big (almost 90 degree) difference in wind direction when there's such a geographically large offshore flow?
Just trying to get my brain around something to avoid!
The winds are supposed to be the most accurate thing the RASP can predict. Thermal strength and height is somewhat less accurate. Cumulus clouds and their heights are the least accurate thing it tries to predict, but it's still pretty good at it.