Ticker for February 1, 1999

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
February 1, 1999   February 1, 1999   February 1, 1999   February 1, 1999


Rain on a Clear Day?

Slapout is reporting around an inch of rainfall today, but the solar
radiation on the meteograms


indicates clear skies.

Notice how the "rainfall" slowly, but steadily, climbed while the air
temperature hovered just above 35 F last night.  Then the rain trace
levels off (indicating no additional accumulation) as winds lessen
and temperatures fall to the freezing point near sunrise this morning.
Afterward, as the air temperature quickly increases after daybreak,
the rain gauge observes much more precipitation.

The bottom line:  The Slapout rain gauge collected about an inch
water-equivalent frozen precipitation during the storm.  Several
other eastern panhandle stations did the same act today.