Ticker for January 15, 2003

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
January 15, 2003   January 15, 2003   January 15, 2003   January 15, 2003



Wind Rose Appreciation Week: Diurnal Signals

Technical difficulties sidelined yesterday's Ticker, so Wind Rose
Appreciation Week will continue through next Monday.

Today's Ticker deals with diurnal signals in the wind field.  The
links below will provide one wind rose for each of the state's
climate divisions, for eight different 3-hour segments of the day.
The data for each CD comes from its Mesonet stations during 1994-2001.
The CDs are placed in a simplified tic-tac-toe style grid.  A map
of the actual CDs is given here:



Okay, here we go:
Mid-3am:  https://content.mesonet.org/ticker/archive/20030115/wind.0003.html
3am-6am:  https://content.mesonet.org/ticker/archive/20030115/wind.0306.html
6am-9am:  https://content.mesonet.org/ticker/archive/20030115/wind.0609.html
9am-noon: https://content.mesonet.org/ticker/archive/20030115/wind.0912.html
noon-3pm: https://content.mesonet.org/ticker/archive/20030115/wind.1215.html
3pm-6pm:  https://content.mesonet.org/ticker/archive/20030115/wind.1518.html
6pm-9pm:  https://content.mesonet.org/ticker/archive/20030115/wind.1821.html
9pm-mid:  https://content.mesonet.org/ticker/archive/20030115/wind.2100.html

As you march through the "day", which is actually a composite of 2,922
days (8 times 365, plus two leap years), you'll notice some patterns.
The first pattern is a general prevalence of southerly winds on almost
every graphic.  Big deal, we saw this Monday, right?

The early morning hours (between midnight and 9 am) show a slight
relaxation of the dominant southerly flow.  During these hours, calm
winds and local effects are greatest.  Late morning and early afternoon
show southwesterly tendencies, as these are prime hours for the mixing
of westerly momentum down to the surface.  Late afternoon and early
evening hours show a swing back from the southeast, and the process
starts all over again during the overnight hours.

Notice that the southeast climate division and panhandle climate
division can deviate from the general Oklahoma pattern.  The southeast
shows a relative preference for easterly and calm winds, while the
panhandle shows prevalent westerly winds.