Welcome
to Our Learning Center for a Bit of Fun and Trivia
Updated
7/10/2006
|
|
Estimating
Winds and Rain
|
|
Winds
15-25
mph:
raises dust and loose paper; small branches move
20-25 mph: small trees begin to
sway
25-30 mph: large branches in motion;
whistling in wires
30-40 mph: whole trees in motion;
difficulty walking against the wind
40-45 mph: breaks twigs of trees;
impedes progress
45-55 mph: breaks small tree branches;
slight structural damage
55-65 mph: breaks large tree branches;
pushesover shallow rooted trees; considerable structural damage
to chimneys, TV antennas, etc
65-75 mph: widespread damage
>75 mph: severe damage and destruction
Rain
Moderate:
0.11 inches to .30 inches per hour or more than
.01 to .03 inches in 6 minutes.
Puddles form rapidly. Sound on roofs ranges from swishing to
gentle roar.
Heavy: More than 0.30 inches per
hour or more than .03 inches in 6 minutes. Rain seems to fall
in sheets. Visibility is greatly reduced. Sound on roofs resembles
roll of drums or distant roar.
|
|
|
|
Barometers
and how to Calibrate them
|
Calibrating
barometers has been a recent subject here at Skywarn. To make
a long story short your barometer should be set to the nearest
official reporting station to you. In the case of Orange County
there are 3 stations. The links to these stations are below. Simply
find the station nearest you and calibrate yours to it. The best
time to do this is when weather conditions are fairly neutral
meaning no low or high pressure systems are moving over our area.
Also remember that altitude makes NO difference.
You can be at sea level or 2000 ft high. This is called corrected
readings for altitude. Click on the first link below on a more
in depth article on barometers. If you have any questions please
use the contact page and we will get back to you.
Barometer Article {Click
Here}
Links to Barometer Calibrations
Remember to use the Sea Level Pressure in Millibars, not Station
pressure !!!!
then convert to inches.
Fullerton
Airport
Los
Alamitos Naval Air Station
John
Wayne Airport |
| |
|
| ---------------------------------------------- |
|
What
are Heating Degree Days and Cooling Degree Days.
and
Why
do we want or need to know the number of "degree days?"
See below for answer
|
|
---------------------------------------------- |
|
NWS
School |
|
Below are
links to Weather learning materials
Jet
Stream
A free NWS online
weather school
(for class matrix, click
here)
Skywarn
Spotter Certification
Course
(NWS San Diego)
|
|
---------------------------------------------- |
|
Pineapple
Express
What is it and where does it come from ???? |
|
Otherwise
know as intraseasonal oscillations to heavy precipitation events
in the western U.S. the term Pineapple Express is being talked
a lot about lately. Click on the link below to learn more.
Pineapple
Express |
|
---------------------------------------------- |
|
Answer
A "degree day" is a unit of measure for recording how
hot or how cold it has been over a 24-hour period. The number
of degree days applied to any particular day of the week is determined
by calculating the mean temperature for the day and then comparing
the mean temperature to a base value of 65 degrees F. (The "mean"
temperature is calculated by adding together the high for the
day and the low for the day, and then dividing the result by 2.)
EXAMPLE:
If the mean temperature for the day is, say, 5 degrees
higher than 65, then there have been 5 cooling degree days. On
the other hand, if the weather has been cool, and the mean temperature
is, say, 55 degrees, then there have 10 heating degree days (65
minus 55 equals 10).
WHY?
It is a good way to generally keep track of how much demand there
has been for energy needed for either heating or cooling buildings.
The cooler (warmer) the weather, the larger the number of "heating
(cooling) degree days"... and the larger the number of heating
(cooling) degree days, the heavier the demand for energy needed
to heat (cool) buildings.
|
|
---------------------------------------------- |
|
Rip
Currents !!!!!!!!!!
Below
is a link to Ocean Rip Current information
Rip
Current Safety |
|
---------------------------------------------- |
|
|
