Listen to Rob’s weather forecast:
Featured Graphics:
WV Image – U.S., w/ pressure fields. This color-enhanced, 2-km resolution, 45-hour image of the lower-48 allows visualization of upper level winds along with surface pressure fields (isobars).
IR/Visible Satellite, True Color, Con. US, past 16 hours.
Midwest Visible Satellite w/ Wind Streamlines.
Visible Satellite – N. IL – S. WI.
Mid-level WV, Midwest,w/ mid-level winds and vorticity.
WV image, North America. GOES-16 color enhanced water vapor image of the continent over the past 81 hours.
WV image – Pacific Basin & North America Longer “upstream” view, from 150° E to 60° W longitude, equator to 70° N latitude.
Local Forecasts:
Hourly Forecast Graph or Hourly Numerical Data. These will provide a much higher-resolution view of the predicted weather to come than most NWS forecast products; they give the forecaster’s best prediction for future hour-by-hour readings of temperature, sky cover, wind speed and direction, precipitation potential, and other useful parameters.
For a more nuanced analysis, consult the Forecast Discussion, issued daily around 3 AM and 3 PM by the local NWS office, which will detail the forecaster’s confidence in the predictions being made plus meteorological reasoning and justification. While this product usually contains some jargon and abbreviations, most technical terms are hyperlinked to definitions so it is quite useful for self-education.
Satellite/Radar Imagery
Milwaukee/Sullivan Radar. This image from Weather Underground attaches labels and directional arrows to individual thunderstorm cells, making it particularly useful. Controls at the top of the frame allow zooming to 800% and resetting of the image to capture parameters like storm-relative radial velocity which is useful for identifying rotation.
Visible/IR Satellite image, Upper Midwest via UW-SSEC. 32 frames, covering previous 6 hours.
Satellite Imagery from College of Dupage. The several images linked below are from the C.O.D.’s excellent NEXLAB resource. All can be modified to visualize various features over almost any region of the continent. Once you’ve accessed an image, the left-hand menu on the page selects (from top to bottom): geographic region/scale; wavelength/band for viewing; number of images in the animation; and possible elision of images to lengthen/speed-up the animation. Within the image itself, along the left-hand side, small “buttons” allow useful overlays; the central button controls both surface features (like roads and rivers) and, under “mesoanalysis,” atmospheric ones (like wind streamlines, isobars, temperature, radar, etc.)
WV image, North America. GOES-16 color enhanced water vapor image of the continent over the past 24 hours.
GOES 17 WV Image, North America & Pacific. Color enhanced water vapor image of N. America and Pacific basin shows upstream 6,000 miles of upper tropospheric features over the past 24 hours. The larger-scale structure of the upper-air pattern affecting the continent can be discerned here, allowing better comprehension of blocking patterns or the approach of a pattern change.
WV Image – U.S., w/ pressure fields. This color-enhanced, 2-km resolution, 16-hour image of the lower-48 allows visualization of upper level winds along with surface pressure fields (isobars).
WV image – Upper Midwest. GOES 16 high-resolution image of the N. Plains and Upper Midwest over the past 4 hours which allows relatively subtle features, including approaching “short-waves,” in the upper-tropospheric winds to be scrutinized.
Visible Satellite – N. IL – S. WI. GOES-16, 24-frame (past 2 hours) image of Southern Wisconsin (overnight images are elided). The relatively small geographical range and high resolution allow good apprehension of vertical-build during convective weather, and of finer-grained cloud elements more generally.
Infra-red Satellite + radar, IL & WI. As above, but with day/night imagery (IR spectrum), county borders and radar overlaid.
7-Day Satellite Review. A useful and informative visual for comprehending larger scale atmospheric patterns over North America at a glance, courtesy of the Space Science and Engineering Center at the UW-Madison.
“Windyty” In addition to showing how surface-winds are blowing across the country, the menus on this graphic allow for multiple parameters to be displayed. Usefully, the lower R-hand menu allows hour-by-hour comparisons between the European (ECMWF), Global Forecast Systems, (GFS), and North American (NAM) computer models to be made, as far out as 9 days in the case of the first two.
Earth Wind Map. A similar graphic, but on a rotatable, tiltable earth and with views of many height levels, including stratosphere. (To change the view, click the word “Earth” in the lower left.)
Severe Weather:
SWODY1, SWODY2, & SWODY3 give the Storm Prediction Center’s severe weather outlooks for future days 1 (today) thru 3. Text and graphics assess risk-level, risk-type and etiology of the day’s threats. These are the go-to products for virtually everyone interested in severe weather, including spotters and chasers. Mesoscale Discussions (MDs) – which include a small weather map with near real-time analysis – are an excellent resource for assessing particular, more localized threats when severe weather is occurring.
Additional Graphics & other resources:
NCEP Model Guidance – GFS Page. The grid-box on this page offers viewing of different parameters from the Global Forecast Systems model. A basic visualization of coming weather can be had by selecting “1000_500_thick” which will show predicted precipitation along with surface and mid-level pressure fields (actually, mid-level “heights”). The “Back” button in the upper left will take you to the general guidance page where other models and geographical regions are available.
C.O.D. Analysis Products. This page links to a number of visualization products including atmospheric soundings (both actual and prognostic), cross-sectional analyses and maps of isentropic surfaces among others.
Soundings. This prognostic sounding generator comes with instructions, also linked here. Soundings are generated by choosing a forecast model, a starting time, the number of hours forward you’d like to view (up to 16), and a location. (“KMSN” can be entered to get a sounding for Madison). A number of resources can be found online to help you interpret soundings if you are unfamiliar with them.
CPC Seasonal Outlook. This Climate Prediction Center page not only includes forecast maps out to 13 months, but also long-lead discussions for the upcoming 30 and 90 day periods which are updated around the 1st and 20th of each month.
Climate Prediction Center. The CPC’s homepage has assessments of drought and other hazards, as well as links to information on longer-term patterns like El Nino / La Nina, the Madden Julian Oscillation and the Arctic Oscillation.
Snow Cover. This NOAA site provides a wealth of data including snow depth, temperature, density, water-equivalence and much more (but remember to hit the “redraw map” button each time). Zoom in on the map for better detail.
72-Hour Observation Trace – Madison. This chart shows hourly conditions for the past three days at the Truax Field / KMSN recording station. The numbers in the “Sky Cond.” field refer to ceiling heights, and represent the first three digits of the cloud deck in feet above ground level (ie., 003 would be read as “300 feet;” 150 would be read as “15,000 feet.”
NOAA Fire & Smoke Mapping. This map from NOAA’s Office of Satellite and Product Operations shows both fire locations and smoke trajectories. The most recent update time is displayed at top of image.
Analemma Simulator.
This page may be useful in helping visualize why the earliest and latest sunrises and sunsets do not occur on the Winter and Summer Solstices, but fall both earlier and later by a period of days or weeks depending on one’s latitude. The following audio explanation may also be useful.
Why the earliest sunset doesn’t fall on the Winter Solstice
An interesting site, courtesy of the UW-Madison’s Cooperative Institute for Media Satellite Studies, for interpretation of past or approaching weather events from a satellite-analysis perspective (so it comes with good visuals).
