Meteorology – Page 19 – Stormstown Dispatch

First Day of Pyranometer Operation

January 1, 2017BillLeave a comment

In a previous post, I talked about installing a new pyranometer to my weather station. Below is a graph of today’s solar radiation flux in W/m^2.

solrad

The graph clearly shows when the instrument was in shade (7:30 – 9:30 AM EST). Maximum value was after noon due to the fact that the longitude is about 3 deg west of the 75th meridian and because the equation of time for today is 3 minutes. The maximum solar elevation angle was about 28 deg. The optical depth of the atmosphere is significantly higher at such a low angle than if the sun was at zenith.

2016 Climatological Summary

January 1, 2017January 1, 2017BillLeave a comment

                            2016 ANNUAL CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY

CITY: Stormstown   STATE: PA  
ELEV:  1385 ft  LAT: 40.8  LONG: 77.87

               TEMPERATURE (°F), HEAT BASE 65.0, COOL BASE 65.0
                          DEP.  HEAT  COOL                                          
        MEAN  MEAN        FROM  DEG   DEG                        MAX  MAX  MIN  
 YR MO  MAX   MIN   MEAN  NORM  DAYS  DAYS  HI  DATE  LOW  DATE  >=90 <=32 <=32 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 16  1  34.3  17.3  25.9   1.3  1211     0  59.4  31   5.0    5    0   12   30 
 16  2  40.0  23.1  31.9   5.1   960     0  65.9  28   0.5   12    0    7   22 
 16  3  56.6  33.6  45.3   8.8   618     8  76.2   9  16.0    3    0    0   14 
 16  4  59.6  35.7  48.4   0.7   522    23  80.9  18  19.3    6    0    0   10 
 16  5  68.8  48.4  58.5  -0.1   273    71  88.6  28  36.6   19    0    0    0 
 16  6  79.1  56.5  68.2   0.9    70   166  87.7  11  43.2   10    0    0    0 
 16  7  86.2  62.0  73.6   2.4    28   295  95.7  25  49.6    3    9    0    0 
 16  8  85.3  62.7  73.2   3.6    24   278  92.7  12  50.8   23    3    0    0 
 16  9  76.9  53.9  65.1   2.9   127   131  89.0  10  39.8   25    0    0    0 
 16 10  63.9  43.4  53.2   2.1   388    22  79.6  18  28.4   26    0    0    3 
 16 11  54.1  34.3  43.9   3.1   636     2  73.6   2  23.2   23    0    0   13 
 16 12  37.6  24.6  31.2   1.4  1047     0  52.1  27   5.9   16    0    7   24 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        61.9  41.4  51.6   2.7  5905   997  95.7 JUL   0.5  FEB   12   26  116 

                                PRECIPITATION (in)

               DEP.   MAX        DAYS OF RAIN 
               FROM   OBS.          OVER
 YR MO  TOTAL  NORM   DAY  DATE .01   .1   1
---------------------------------------------
 16  1  1.58  -0.92  1.12   10    7    2    1
 16  2  2.99   0.29  1.23    3    9    3    1
 16  3  1.92  -1.38  0.55   13   10    6    0
 16  4  1.85  -1.15  0.50   28   12    5    0
 16  5  3.52  -0.28  0.73   21   17   10    0
 16  6  2.12  -2.08  0.60    5   11    8    0
 16  7  1.16  -2.64  0.26   30    8    7    0
 16  8  5.61   2.31  3.47   10   11    8    1
 16  9  3.49   0.09  1.41   29   10    7    1
 16 10  6.95   4.05  3.62   20   13    7    2
 16 11  1.22  -2.18  0.62   30    5    3    0
 16 12  2.07  -0.73  0.76   18   12    4    0
---------------------------------------------
       34.48 -4.62  3.62  OCT  125   70    6

                                WIND SPEED (mph)
                          DOM
 YR MO   AVG.  HI   DATE  DIR
---------------------------------
 16  1   4.7  42.0   10     W
 16  2   4.5  38.0   25    SW
 16  3   4.1  54.0   28    SE
 16  4   4.0  43.0    3    NW
 16  5   2.7  34.0    8    SW
 16  6   2.9  34.0   12    SW
 16  7   2.5  26.0   15    SW
 16  8   2.2  35.0   16     S
 16  9   2.1  24.0    8    NE
 16 10   2.9  49.0   20   WNW
 16 11   3.9  41.0   20     W
 16 12   5.4  34.0   12     W
---------------------------------
         3.5  54.0  MAR    W

Pyranometer

December 31, 2016BillLeave a comment

Today, I installed a new weather instrument, for 2017 and beyond, to my personal weather station (PWS). I installed a pyranometer to measure the solar radiation flux density (W/m**2). The data from the instrument will be sampled every 30 minutes, along with the other parameters that are already being logged.

I have been told that the State College region is cloudier than most. Now I can measure just how “gray” the environment is here.

Indian Summer

October 12, 2016BillLeave a comment

Some would say that our area is now in the midst of Indian Summer (is that politically correct?). Yesterday morning, the temperature in Stormstown fell just below 32 deg F (31.6 F at 6:00 AM EDT), the first recorded freezing temperature of the season. There was frost on the lawns as seen below:

p1020884

As the sun rose, the frost that was in full sunlight dissipated, while the frost in shadow remained.

The foliage has some color. However, it is not expected to be spectacular this year as the region has suffered a drought over the summer.

p1020879

It is definitely jacket weather here, nonetheless.

Tropical Storm Matthew

September 28, 2016BillLeave a comment

Tropical Storm Matthew formed today. It is forecast to become a hurricane this Friday.

matthew1

What is unusual is that the forecast track has the system making a hard right turn to the north sometime this weekend. Most of the models are in agreement to that forecast.

matthew2

However, the two main models, GFS and ECMWF, disagree on where it will track a week from now. An earlier run of the GFS had it going up Chesapeake Bay next Thursday. The ECMWF has it moving slower with a possible landfall in southern Florida, so this should be watched carefully in the coming days.

BloomSky Weather Station

September 19, 2016January 26, 2017BillLeave a comment

Over the weekend, I installed a BloomSky weather station at my home in Stormstown. The installation was simple. The only tool required was a Phillips screwdriver.

First, the mount was simply clamped to the backyard fence. Then a mounting plate for the solar panel was screwed onto the mount. The solar panel simply clipped to the plate. Before mounting the sensors, it had to be configured for the WiFi by using the iOS app. This was an easy process after plugging it in using the supplied AC adapter.

bloomsky

Lastly, the weather station itself only had to be dropped in place into the mount, and then plug in the solar panel. The only issue was the the air pressure didn’t report at first. This was resolved by unplugging the solar array and cycling the power from the internal battery. Then plug the solar array back in.

Data and camera imagery are located here:

https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KPAPORTM15#history

Gaston and Invest 99L

August 23, 2016BillLeave a comment

Tropical Storm Gaston developed today. However, unless you’re shipping something across the Atlantic, that’s all you need to know. It is forecast to recurve and remain at sea.

two_atl_2d0

The focus is still on Invest 99L. Now the ECMWF model is bullish on possible US landfall in The Gulf of Mexico around the Florida panhandle next Tuesday. The GFS model, not so much. Still too far out for any reasonable certainty.

storm_99

Invest 90 and 99

August 21, 2016BillLeave a comment

As stated in a previous post, the forecasts can significantly change for systems that are forecast many days in advance. The 06 UTC GFS model run is not so bullish on Invest 99. The GFS now shows the storm making a hard right out to sea as it moves near The Bahamas.

storm_99

Focus is also on Invest 90 which is ow developing off the west coast of Africa. The models, as of this writing, indicate that it will not be a threat to the US.

storm_90

The Tropics Awakens

August 20, 2016August 20, 2016BillLeave a comment

The latest 12 UTC GFS model run is featuring two systems that may affect US interests by next week. What does persist is the system that is tracking into The Gulf of Mexico. The other system, more intense as depicted by the model, recurves before impacting the east coast. Both systems should be watched closely in the coming days.