Program Status for 21 February 2001

   P(mb)  Ht(m)  T(C)   Td(C)  ff(kt)  dd(deg)
    800   2019    4.6   -32.0   20      228
    825   1764    6.1   -31.8   17      227
    850   1522    8.0   -31.6   15      237
    875   1284    7.5   -26.5   16      197
    900   1053    7.3    -1.6   19      184
    925    827    8.0     2.9   10      143
    950    604    8.9     7.0   13      153
    975    386    9.9     9.2   17      145
    985    297   10.4    10.1   16      143 (1000 ft)

Now heading to MRY at 1000 ft.

winds: 231 deg, 23kt
air temp: 1.9degC
dewpt temp: -32.6degC
mix rat: 0.3g/kg

winds: 233deg, 26kt
air temp: 2.0degC
dewpt temp: -32.1degC
mix rat: 0.3g/kg

winds: 230deg, 23kt
air temp: 1.3degC
dewpt temp: -37.5degC
mix rat: 0.2g/kg

Currently heading back to pt 5' at 8000 ft. After pt 5', head to MRY over ocean at 1000 ft.

winds: 244deg, 37kt
air temp: -12.8degC
dewpt temp: -38.2deg
mix rat: 0.2g/kg

winds: 230deg, 32kt
air temp: 1.5degC
dewpt temp: -36.6degC
mix rat: 0.2g/kg

winds: 248deg, 37kt air temp: -13.7degC
dewpt temp: -38.6degC
mix rat: 0.2g/kg

Drop winds look good.

     P(mb)  Ht(m)  T(degC)  Td(degC)  ff(kt)  dd(deg)
     1019.3  -SFC   10.4      9.3       17      125
      925     840    7.2      5.9       16      190
      850    1531    5.4    -36.6       22      225
      700    3095   -3.3    -49.3       30      260

     P(mb) Ht(m)  T(degC) Td(degC)  ff(kt)  dd(deg)
      850   1542   5.0      3.9       22      257
      800   2036   4.3    -18.9       15      246
      750   2550   1.8    -28.3       15      264
      700   3110  -1.6    -30.7       20      271

winds:205deg, 14 kt
air temp:10.8degC
dewpt temp: 10.6degC
mix rat: 8.2g/kg

Old remnants of "front" only evident in moisture gradient. Winds show no clear shift in direction or speed.

winds: 177deg, 4kt
air temp: 10.4degC
dewpt temp: 4.0degC
mix rat: 5.2g/kg

winds: 184deg, 15kt
air temp: 6.7degC
dewpt temp: 4.7degC
mix rat: 5.9g/kg

Currently spiralling down to 1000 ft at pt 11, will move to pt 13, then to pt 14' (35N, 121.5W) at 1000 ft, spiral up to 15000 ft at pt 14', move to pt 5' at 15000 ft, drop a sonde, then porpoise from 5' to 6', then head back to pt 5' at MVA.

Will travel from 11 to 13 to 14' at 1000 ft spiral up to 15000 ft at 14', travel over to 5', drop a dropsonde at 5', porpoise in from 5' to 6', transit back from 6' to 5' at MVA, then home.

winds: 256deg, 42kt
air temp: -11.8degC
dewpt temp: -37.3degC
mix ratio: 0.3g/kg

     P(mb) Ht(m)   T(degC) Td(degC) ff(kt) dd(deg)
     650     -      -7.5     -39.2    36     246
     700     -      -3.0     -39.5    26     247
     750   2545      0.5     -38.3    24     221
     800   2028      3.8     -36.2    27     213
     850   1529      4.8     -31.4    25     214
     900   1061      5.1       4.9    20     201
     925    762      7.0       5.4    18     196
     950    622      8.4       7.2    20     200
     975    404      9.6       9.5    20     167
    1000    197     10.9      10.5    16     167

Heading to pt 11 at 1000 ft

winds: 255deg, 42kt
air temp: -11.6degC
dewpt temp:-37.8degC
mixing ratio: 0.2g/kg

winds: 243deg, 24kt
air temp: -0.4degC
dewpt temp: -38.7degC
mix rat: 0.2g/kg

winds: 243deg, 26kt
air temp: -1.2degC
dewpt temp: -38.4degC
mix rat: 0.2g/kg

winds: 259deg, 38kt
air temp: -11.0degC
dewpt temp: -39.0degC
mix rat: 0.2g/kg

winds: 230deg, 20kt
air temp: 1.7degC
dewpt temp: -34.7degC
mix rat: 0.3g/kg

winds: 218deg, 27kt
air temp: 2.0degC
dewpt temp: -32.4degC
mix rat: 0.3g/kg

Just touched pt 8'. Cruising at 7000 ft from pt 8' to 9'

winds: 155deg, 27kt
air temp: 9.6degC
dewpt temp: 9.5degC
mix rat: 7.5g/kg

Observed wind speeds drop to below 10kt during descent from 8500 to 1000 ft at pt 5'.

winds:239deg, 24kt
air temp:0.5degC
dewpt temp:-34.1degC
mix rat: 0.3g/kg

winds: 253deg, 29kt
air temp: 0.1degC
dewpt temp: -35.1degC
mix rat: 0.3g/kg

Had to change to 8500 ft at 1833UTC, 36.57N, 120.8W due to ATC on leg outbound to pt5'.

winds: 246deg, 25kt
air temp: -0.2degC
dewpt temp: -12.4degC
mix rat: 2.6g/kg

Got only one porpoise in between pts 5' and 6' due to air traffic conflicts. Will now head to porpoise between points 7' and 8' after heading out to point 5' at 8000 ft.

winds: 247deg, 30kt
air temp: 1.4degC
dewpt temp: -35.5degC
mix rat: 0.3g/kg

During porpoise between pts 5' and 6'.

winds: 249deg, 36kt
air temp: -13.3degC
dewpt temp:-30.0degC
mix rat: 0.6g/kg

During porpoise between pts 5' and 6'.

winds: 255deg, 37kt
air temp: -14.2degC
dewpt temp:-29.8degC
mix rat: 0.5g/kg

Modified pts 8 and 9 (pt 8' and pt 9')

pt 8' 36deg15minN, 122deg12minW

pt 9' 37deg7minN, 120deg41minW

winds: 246deg, 21kt
air temp: 0.2degC
dewpt temp: -29.6degC
mix rat: 0.4g/kg

winds: 217deg, 25kt
air temp: 1.6degC
dewpt temp:-0.7degC
mix rat:3.2g/kg

winds: 184deg, 22kt
air temp: 7.1degC
dewpt temp: 6.8degC
mix rat:6.8g/kg

winds: 141deg, 27kt
air temp:10.1degC
dewpt temp: 9.7degC
mix rat: 7.5g/kg

Spiral up at pt5'.

winds: 241deg, 27kt
air temp: 0.6degC
dewpt temp: -29.0degC
mix rat: 0.4g/kg

Air space between pts 3 and 4 has been closed. Air space is also closed between points 5 and 6. Will move section 5-6 NW to 5'-6' where pt 5' is 36degN, 121deg59minW and pt 6' is 36degN51minN, 120deg22minW.

Will also move pts 8 and 9 to make spacing more even between 3 NW-most sections. Will then return to section pts5'-6' for second sampling late in flight, since airspace between points 3 and 4 will remain hot all day.

winds: 251deg, 28kt
air temp: 0.2
dewpt temp: -3.2
mix rat: 3.8g/kg

winds:254deg, 34kt
air temp: -13.9degC
dewpt temp: -23.3degC
mix rat:1.1g/kg

winds: 259deg, 25kt
air temp: -0.1degC
dewpt temp:-2.4degC
mix rat: 4.1g/kg

MVA has been changed on first cross-coast leg to 8000 ft MSL.

winds: 260deg, 24kt
air temp: 3.3degC
dewpt temp: 2.8degC
mix rat: 5.7g/kg

Evidence of shallow blocking west of coast. winds at 1000 ft: 160-170deg, as high as 20kt before spiral at pt 3.

winds: 209deg, 19kt
air temp: 11.4degC
dewpt temp: 10.7degC
mix rat: 8.3g/kg

Winds back to Southwesterly.

Just passed through distinct moisture boundary. Turbulence has picked up from non-existent to some chop. ThetaE changed from 304K to 308K within 10min of latitude.

winds: 310deg, 7kt
air temp: 10.5degC
dewpt temp: 3.2degC
mix rat: 4.9g/kg

Winds have become Northwesterly.

winds: 250deg, 11kt
air temp: 10.3degC
dewpt temp: 9.9degC
mix rat: 7.7g/kg

Winds have slacked and become Southwesterly.

winds: 186deg, 29kt
air temp: 8.1degC
dewpt temp: N/A

1340 PST
The upper level low off the coast of northern California circulating near 40N/130W will gradually move towards the California/Oregon border by Thursday morning. A rotating shortwave around this low will bring a band of showers and isolated thunderstorms to northern California through this evening. A stronger vort max will then reach the California coast early Thursday morning associated with the upper level low. The upper level low is then expected to track inland over Eureka Thursday afternoon before heading south and digging a trough over southern California by Friday morning. In the meantime expect showery conditions to continue over northern California with sufficient instability and moisture in place over the area.

In the extended...Weak ridging is expected to build over the area by Friday afternoon. This ridging will be very short lived as another system approaches the area on Saturday. The AVN is slightly quiker than the MRF in the progression of this system...but this seems reasonable considering the progressive flow of a zonal patter. Consequently expect light over-running precip to reach the coast by early Saturday afternoon with the associated cold front reaching the central California coast sometime Saturday night. The upper level low with this system will eventually move into southern Oregon by early Monday morning before yet another storm drops south along the coast on Tuesday.

1220
Lightning returns have been spotted off the coast of Eureka at 40.82N/125.74W associated with a strengthening shortwave rotating around the approaching upper level low. 3 - strikes have been detected in the last 30 min.

1140 PST
A weak shortwave rotating around the upper level low is begining to produce some precip off the northern California coast. Radar out of Eureka is begining to show a broad area of light to moderate showers at 40N/125W moving towards the west at approximately 20 KT/hr. The southern extend of this shortwave extends down to 37.35N/125.75W and this band appears to be about 60 KM wide. Radar returns around the bay area at this time have quited down with no significant returns found anywhere. Latest hourly rainfall reports continue to confirm this with only a few hundreths of an inch found anywhere.

1050 PST
Satellite imagery continuing to indicate a large section of the moisture plume thinning out as it approaches the California coast. Best enhancement and organization continues to occur further west near 34N/128W south of the upper level low near 40N/133W. Diffuse frontal boundary is currently tracking south through Monterey but few significant rainfall reports can be found. A few hundreths to .10" of rain have fallen in isolated locations in the Santa Cruz mountains the past hour. The Santa Lucia mountains have been mostly dry for the past 2 hours.

0900
A thinning out of the moisture plume in IR and WV imagery is now evident over a large area between 33.5N/122.5W and 35.27N/124.4W extending out to 30.9N/127.57W and 33.16N/128.33W streaming rapidly towards the west. Some enhancement in IR is now occuring farther offshore near 31N/132W where -46C tops are now visible on IR imagery. Current profiler data at GLA showing light (10kt or less) winds up to 1300m from the west. No new rainfall data to report. ROSSI

0830 PST
Latest Imagery clearly showing moisture plume begining to slowly sag southward as a result of upper level low near 39.82N/133.15W. Hourly rainfall reports ending at 1600Z indicating an additional .24" rain fell at Chews ridge (36.45N/121.30W) last hour and an additional .12" at Mining Ridge (36.35N/121.30W). Radar out of MTR is continuing to show widely scattered light returns this morning and no significant enhancement or organization of of moisture plume is evident.
ROSSI

0749 PST
Moisture plume exending from approximately 37.10N down to 34.02N and out past 140W will stream across the area today. Presently MTR radar is indicating a few light showers embedded in this mass of clouds, but large scale organized areas of precip. Isolated cloud tops in this plume can be located in the -35C to -39C range...with the most widespread cold cloud tops out near 31.5N and 133W. Precip reports last hour from RAWS sites in the Santa Lucia Range indicate .20" rain fell at Chews Ridge (5040FT) and .08" at Mining Ridge (4710 FT). 15Z sounding at OAK indicating winds increasing to 40KT from the SW by 3500 FT.
ROSSI