Hi There,

I'm trying to make sense of the GFS 500hPa charts on Wetterzentrale but to
be honest I'm not really sure what I'm looking at. The High Pressures & low
pressures are easy enough to figure out but what exacly do the colours refer
to. Assuming they are temperature gradients do they refer to surface
temperatures or something else.

Any advice anyone could give (in layman's terms i'm afraid) would be very
welcome.

Many thanks

David.

"David Gartrell" wrote in message
...
Hi There,

I'm trying to make sense of the GFS 500hPa charts on Wetterzentrale but to
be honest I'm not really sure what I'm looking at. The High Pressures &
low pressures are easy enough to figure out but what exacly do the colours
refer to. Assuming they are temperature gradients do they refer to
surface temperatures or something else.

Any advice anyone could give (in layman's terms i'm afraid) would be very
welcome.

Many thanks

David.
----------------------------
Try our FAQ's he-
http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/me...dels/sites.htm

Dave

On Jun 13, 9:21*pm, "David Gartrell"
wrote:
Hi There,

I'm trying to make sense of the GFS 500hPa charts on Wetterzentrale but to
be honest I'm not really sure what I'm looking at. *The High Pressures & low
pressures are easy enough to figure out but what exacly do the colours refer
to. *Assuming they are temperature gradients do they refer to surface
temperatures or something else.

Any advice anyone could give (in layman's terms i'm afraid) would be very
welcome.

Many thanks

David.

The colours refer to contours of the 500 mb surface. They
can be loosely thought of as the isobars at 18,000 ft and show the
circulation at that level. This is obviously influenced to some
extent by the circulation at the surface but is modified in both
position and intensity by the temperature of the column of air between
the surface and the 500 mb level. Thus the 500 mb level will be
higher if the air column is warm or the surface pressure is high.
More useful, in my opinion, are the thickness lines,
which you can get he

http://www.wetter3.de/

This site is considerably more user-friendly than Topkarten but is
less comprehensive in some ways. You still need German, of course.
Mine is rudimentary, which is at least a quantum leap from non-
existent.

The colours here depict the various thickness values. This
is the thickness (in decametres) of the layer from 1000 mb to 500 mb
and is purely proportional to its average absolute temperature. Thus
they show where the atmosphere over a consdierable depth is warm or
cold. Also, Lows tend to move, at least initially, along the
thickness lines.

The 500 mb contours are in black and surface isobars in white.
It can get a bit difficult to read until you're used to it. A bit
like badly-written jazz charts.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.

"Dave Cornwell" wrote in
message ...

"David Gartrell" wrote in
message ...
Hi There,

I'm trying to make sense of the GFS 500hPa charts on Wetterzentrale
but to be honest I'm not really sure what I'm looking at. The High
Pressures & low pressures are easy enough to figure out but what
exacly do the colours refer to. Assuming they are temperature
gradients do they refer to surface temperatures or something else.

Any advice anyone could give (in layman's terms i'm afraid) would
be very welcome.

Many thanks

David.
----------------------------
Try our FAQ's he-
http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/me...dels/sites.htm

.... FAQs aren't there anymore ... try:-

http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/

then 'Forecasting' ... 'Models'

Martin.



--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023

On Fri, 13 Jun 2008 at 22:01:53, Dave Cornwell
wrote in uk.sci.weather :


"David Gartrell" wrote in message
...
Hi There,

I'm trying to make sense of the GFS 500hPa charts on Wetterzentrale but to
be honest I'm not really sure what I'm looking at. The High Pressures &
low pressures are easy enough to figure out but what exacly do the colours
refer to. Assuming they are temperature gradients do they refer to
surface temperatures or something else.

Any advice anyone could give (in layman's terms i'm afraid) would be very
welcome.

Many thanks

David.
----------------------------
Try our FAQ's he-
http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/me...dels/sites.htm

I got a 404 error for that.
--
Paul Hyett, Cheltenham (change 'invalid83261' to 'blueyonder' to email me)

"Paul Hyett" wrote in message ...

I got a 404 error for that.

.... Steve Loft took over the hosting & maintenance of the FAQs some
while back ... the site is he-

http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/

then 'Forecasting' ... 'Models'

Martin.


--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023

On Jun 14, 7:18*am, "Martin Rowley"
wrote:
"Dave Cornwell" wrote in
.. .



"David Gartrell" wrote in
...
Hi There,

I'm trying to make sense of the GFS 500hPa charts on Wetterzentrale
but to be honest I'm not really sure what I'm looking at. *The High
Pressures & low pressures are easy enough to figure out but what
exacly do the colours refer to. *Assuming they are temperature
gradients do they refer to surface temperatures or something else.

Any advice anyone could give (in layman's terms i'm afraid) would
be very welcome.

Many thanks

David.
----------------------------
Try our FAQ's he-
http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/me...dels/sites.htm

... FAQs aren't there anymore ... try:-

http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/

then 'Forecasting' ... 'Models'

When i read that link I thought: "What? Is that old fart back?"

On Jun 14, 10:35*am, Weatherlawyer wrote:
On Jun 14, 7:18*am, "Martin Rowley"





wrote:
"Dave Cornwell" wrote in
.. .

"David Gartrell" wrote in
...
Hi There,

I'm trying to make sense of the GFS 500hPa charts on Wetterzentrale
but to be honest I'm not really sure what I'm looking at. *The High
Pressures & low pressures are easy enough to figure out but what
exacly do the colours refer to. *Assuming they are temperature
gradients do they refer to surface temperatures or something else.

Any advice anyone could give (in layman's terms i'm afraid) would
be very welcome.

Many thanks

David.
----------------------------
Try our FAQ's he-
http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/me...dels/sites.htm

... FAQs aren't there anymore ... try:-

http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/

then 'Forecasting' ... 'Models'

When i read that link I thought: "What? Is that old fart back?"- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

W, just on the topic of "making sense". Your forecasting abilities
appear to have missed the 6.8(+) earthquake in Honshu, last night.
It's not surprising, as I feel that earthquakes are still,
essentially, unpredictable, as does almost all scientists working in
this field. I do remember you mentioning that a "major" earthquake was
due (not timescle, no specific area and you didn't state the
magnitude, as I recall). Surely it can't have been this one? At 6.8,
it wouldn't be considered major. When's the big one going to occur?
After all, on every day of our lives, we can't escape from the fact
that a major earthquake is due somewhere on earth. Can you forecast
it? You missed the Sichuan earthquake completely and this one in
Japan. It is not on the same scale as Sichuan, but has been the
biggest in just over a month since then, I believe, topping the Greek
earthquake, which you also appear to have missed. It might be worth a
proper forecast to try to redeem your theories and set everyone agog
at your ability? 1/4; 25% since April 24th and counting.

On Jun 14, 12:25*pm, Dawlish wrote:
On Jun 14, 10:35*am, Weatherlawyer wrote:



On Jun 14, 7:18*am, "Martin Rowley"

wrote:
"Dave Cornwell" wrote in
.. .

"David Gartrell" wrote in
...
Hi There,

I'm trying to make sense of the GFS 500hPa charts on Wetterzentrale
but to be honest I'm not really sure what I'm looking at. *The High
Pressures & low pressures are easy enough to figure out but what
exacly do the colours refer to. *Assuming they are temperature
gradients do they refer to surface temperatures or something else.

Any advice anyone could give (in layman's terms i'm afraid) would
be very welcome.

Many thanks

David.
----------------------------
Try our FAQ's he-
http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/me...dels/sites.htm

... FAQs aren't there anymore ... try:-

http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/

then 'Forecasting' ... 'Models'

When i read that link I thought: "What? Is that old fart back?"- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

W, just on the topic of "making sense". Your forecasting abilities
appear to have missed the 6.8(+) earthquake in Honshu, last night.
It's not surprising, as I feel that earthquakes are still,
essentially, unpredictable, as does almost all scientists working in
this field. I do remember you mentioning that a "major" earthquake was
due (not timescle, no specific area and you didn't state the
magnitude, as I recall). Surely it can't have been this one? At 6.8,
it wouldn't be considered major. When's the big one going to occur?
After all, on every day of our lives, we can't escape from the fact
that a major earthquake is due somewhere on earth. Can you forecast
it? You missed the Sichuan earthquake completely and this one in
Japan. It is not on the same scale as Sichuan, but has been the
biggest in just over a month since then, I believe, topping the Greek
earthquake, which you also appear to have missed. It might be worth a
proper forecast to try to redeem your theories and set everyone agog
at your ability? 1/4; 25% since April 24th and counting.

I don't read your output often and when confronted with a mess like
this I reaffirm the desire not to.

However if you care to insert some paragraph spaces and ameliorate it
for me in many ways, I may just capitulate the once.

Martin Rowley wrote:
"Paul Hyett" wrote in message ...
I got a 404 error for that.

... Steve Loft took over the hosting & maintenance of the FAQs some
while back ... the site is he-

http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/

Maybe I should post a regular announcement :-)

I have to admit that I'm doing the hosting but not much maintaining at
the moment.
--
Steve Loft
Sanday, Orkney. 5m ASL. http://sanday.org.uk/weather
Free weather station softwa http://sandaysoft.com/
uk.sci.weather FAQs/glossary/etc: http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/