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BTRWx

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Posts posted by BTRWx

  1. 1 hour ago, heavy_wx said:

    Technically, we correlate synoptic scale lift to differential positive vorticity advection (actually differential cyclonic vorticity advection, to include our friends in the Southern Hemisphere), meaning that PVA increasing with height, not simply PVA, is correlated to lift. However, in the case of cyclogenesis, most of the time PVA is stronger at 500 mb than below so PVA at 500 mb is generally a decent proxy for positive differential PVA.

    Of course, a lot of the precipitation associated with cyclogenesis is due to mesoscale processes such as frontogenesis, where semi-geostrophic theory is more appropriate than quasi-geostrophic theory. Check out this presentation for more information about frontogenesis and how it produces lift.

    http://www.weather.gov/media/lmk/soo/frontogenesis_lmk2.pdf

    What happened to the 101 here? lol

    eta: maybe we need a separate thread

  2. 50 minutes ago, Thanatos_I_Am said:

    Thanks PSU. Another question, what is vort? What should we want around here in regards to that? 

    "Vort" is short for vorticity, the spin of the flow.  In practically any weather event, you want vorticity to be as strong as possible for good results.  Stronger vorticity = stronger lift = stronger storms.  Ideally, we'd want the strongest vorticity just ahead of an approaching weather system for the greatest impacts (just as it rolls through).  Here is the nws glossary definition. "A measure of the rotation of air in a horizontal plane. Positive (counter-clockwise or cyclonic) vorticity can be correlated with surface low development and upward vertical motion (in areas of positive vorticity advection)."

    Most such maps have the intensity of vorticity shaded yellow as weaker flow, orange-ish for more moderate flow, and red for the strongest vorticity. 

    Maybe psu can elaborate more on specifics of vorticity maps.

  3. I greatly appreciate all the advice from professionals currently in the field and their personal experiences. After reading thoroughly through each comment in this topic I've learned I need a backup plan or two. I'm about halfway through my undergraduate studies and am recently considering adding another major in addition to graduate school. I'm also realizing that my first major in Global and Environmental Change alone likely won't get me anywhere. I've learned a lot from these online discussions about the industry, the science, and high competition in the field.

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