This forum: (For weather-related questions)

[senorpepr]

This forum is a section dedicated to learning and asking questions. All of us, regardless to our expertise in meteorology had to ask questions—it’s a part of learning. The idea of this forum is to stimulate people to ask those questions, whether complex or simple.

If you come across an acronym or term you’re unfamiliar with, feel free to ask here.

Just as the saying goes, there are no stupid questions. Don’t be shy. If you have a question, probably someone else has that same question.

Another purpose of this forum is to act as an archive or filing system for these questions. With each question getting it’s own thread, it’s easier to pull up a question from the past. It’s also easier for new forum members to look through the section to find an already asked question.

Use this section to ask some of the pro-mets, and well-versed amateurs about terms, acronyms, and phrases that they'd like to have explained to them, so they might follow the informative threads concerning these storms et. al. with a much wider perspective of understanding. Don't be shy. Feel free to post questions YOU might want answered. I can only hope that those "answering" these questions will be truly familiar enough with the question to answer it articulately and clearly... if not... ask for further elaboration. Curious minds WANT to know, and it's no shame to want to know what you're reading... it's a shame to read it and NOT know what you're reading when by asking... you can.

I also want to nod toward Audrey2Katrina for spearheading the Question Box thread that led to this.

[Swimdude]

A grand idea as usual!

I spread my thanks to Audrey2Katrina as well, the Question Box thread was a bunch of help, just to read, and I'm sure this forum will be too!

[fci]

THIS FORUM IS GREAT!!!

Many thinks to S2K for coming up with it and the Pro Mets for monitoring it and answering our questions.

Please continue to monitor as best you can given that you will be getting quite busy...

[brunota2003]

great idea... I reposted the troughs and ridges post here as the original is now on Page 3 of TT, hopefully it clears up any questions anyone has about east coast T&R's, there were several people who said it was great information, so...

[Jim Cantore]

Supurb Idea

[wxmann_91]

I concur.

[wjs3]

Pretty fantastic Idea. I love trying to answer some of this stuff.

I may have missed it, but did you all sticky this in talking tropics, or anounce it there? That way folks whose questions get buried in all the action over there know to come here for a little slower, more careful treatment of their questions.

[SMNederlandTX]

Quick question...and it probably is a stupid one....LOL...what does the letters WX stand for in some peopls names? I've seen quite a few and just cannot figure it out....just curious is all.

[Ptarmigan]

Quick question...and it probably is a stupid one....LOL...what does the letters WX stand for in some peopls names? I've seen quite a few and just cannot figure it out....just curious is all.

WX=Weather

[Annie Oakley]

In weather discussions what does 'POPS' mean?

Also-and this may be complicated-what does the 00Z in the model discussions mean? I mean why does it always come up after an updated model comes out....hope this isn't too ignorant a ?. Thanks in advance......

[senorpepr]

In weather discussions what does 'POPS' mean?

Also-and this may be complicated-what does the 00Z in the model discussions mean? I mean why does it always come up after an updated model comes out....hope this isn't too ignorant a ?. Thanks in advance......

POPS = Probability of Precipitation. You'll sometimes see the discussion say, "...because of that, I have increased the POPs for today." The forecaster is saying they have raised the probability of precipitation in the forecast.


00Z is a time. Z (or Zulu) is the alpha-code for GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) or UTC (Universal Time, Coordinated) The meteorological community, we tend to standardize on UTC rather than flipping between time zones. The 00 is the time, in hours using a 24-hour clock. 00Z (or 00:00 GMT) is the same as 7:00pm CDT.

You'll find model updates usually at...

00Z (00:00 GMT / 7:00pm CDT)
06Z (06:00 GMT / 1:00am CDT)
12Z (12:00 GMT / 7:00am CDT)
18Z (18:00 GMT / 1:00pm CDT)

[Annie Oakley]

Gracias Senor!!!! Also-Invest L or Invest E, Invest W-what does the 'L' stand for? Thanks!!

[RL3AO]

Gracias Senor!!!! Also-Invest L or Invest E, Invest W-what does the 'L' stand for? Thanks!!

Depicts the basin.

W = West Pacific (north of equator and west of 180 degrees)
E = East Pacific (north of equator and east of 140W)
L = North Atlantic (also includes Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean sea). Its an L because the Arabian sea is assigned "A".

[Chacor]

In weather discussions what does 'POPS' mean?

Also-and this may be complicated-what does the 00Z in the model discussions mean? I mean why does it always come up after an updated model comes out....hope this isn't too ignorant a ?. Thanks in advance......

POPS = Probability of Precipitation. You'll sometimes see the discussion say, "...because of that, I have increased the POPs for today." The forecaster is saying they have raised the probability of precipitation in the forecast.


00Z is a time. Z (or Zulu) is the alpha-code for GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) or UTC (Universal Time, Coordinated) The meteorological community, we tend to standardize on UTC rather than flipping between time zones. The 00 is the time, in hours using a 24-hour clock. 00Z (or 00:00 GMT) is the same as 7:00pm CDT.

You'll find model updates usually at...

00Z (00:00 GMT / 7:00pm CDT)
06Z (06:00 GMT / 1:00am CDT)
12Z (12:00 GMT / 7:00am CDT)
18Z (18:00 GMT / 1:00pm CDT)

I posted a time-comparison table in Talkin' Tropics some time last year. Unfortunately the non-daylight savings table seems to have disappeared, but the table which factors in daylight savings is still around:

[redneckmainer]

im wondering up here in maine will we get hit by hurricaine bertha

[LeeJet]

Why does W. Europe receive alot less rainfall than W. NA?

[senorpepr]

Why does W. Europe receive alot less rainfall than W. NA?

Well, a key difference would be terrain. The western side of North America has numerous mountain chains that extend from north to south. This barrier acts as a lifting mechanism for the frontal boundaries that come off the North Pacific. In turn, plenty of rain falls.

Meanwhile, Europe has fewer mountain chains and for those that do exist, many are oriented west to east. Therefore, frontal systems don't run into the same lifting forces in Europe as they would in North America.

Does that help?

[LeeJet]

So why low compared to E. US, then?

[senorpepr]

So why low compared to E. US, then?

Latitude makes a big difference. The types of systems affecting the E. US (both from the west and from the east) versus the type of systems affecting Europe (mostly occluded fronts from the west/northwest).

[RL3AO]

Offtopic: Its quite remarkable when you look how far north some of these European cities are. Minneapolis is at the same latitude as Torino, Italy. London is at the same latitude as Calgary.

Another one of my favorites is the distance from NYC to LA is about the same as London to Baghdad.