Ticker for April 12, 2006

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
April 12, 2006     April 12, 2006     April 12, 2006     April 12, 2006



Avast Ye, Land-Lubbers

On this sparkling, crystal day in the heartland, let us turn our
gaze eastward ... far eastward to the shore, and see a whole new
need (and use) for quality mesoscale observations.

The New Jersey Weathernet, like New Jersey itself, is a melting pot.
The network is a consortium of several different networks, including
the New Jersey State Climate Office's own Mesonet (whose stations
not coincidentally resemble Oklahoma Mesonet stations).

Anyway, this network of networks produces, among other things, an
hourly temperature map with mesoscale detail. Let's take a look at
today's 3pm EDT map:



Much of the state found itself enjoying temps near 70, except for the
seaward stations, which reported mid-50s. That is a mesoscale
observational effect spawned from a body of tremendously larger
(and slower) scale.

Of course, it's the effect of the Atlantic Ocean and the southeasterly
winds (not shown) across New Jersey today. The ocean, being both larger
than and slower to heat than land surfaces, still sports surface
temperatures around 50. So the air coming onshore is much cooler than
that which has spent some time over land.

And this is what has amazed this Ticker Staff, which is 100% composed
of land-locked Oklahomans who haven't thought much about such things:
It's not so much that the near-ocean observations are cool in the
onshore flow. What surprises us is how rapidly the air is modified by
the land beneath as it streams inland.

Significant mesoscale temperature differences can have a big impact,
and not just on distant climatologists. When you consider the
population density of New Jersey, and that power demands are partially
governed by temperature, and that power ain't cheap ... putting those
pieces together would explain why a mesoscale network is vital to
their state.