Wet, windy and rainy
Good Morning Augusta. , its wet, windy and cold out there.
This morning it is overcast with rain showers, then partly cloudy. High of
48F. Windy. Winds from the NW at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph. Chance
of rain 50%.
Tonight it will be clear, then partly cloudy. Low of 28F with a windchill as
low as 19F. Windy. Winds from the WNW at 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 35 mph.
The readings outside right now, taken from my own weather instruments:
a relative humidity of 91% with a Dew Point of 43.3ºF.
The temperature is 45.7ºF with a very low wind chill.
Presently we have West winds between 3.4 mph and 5.4 mph, but that will
definitely NOT last. IT is going to get very windy out there, so be prepared
for the odd power outage.
Our Barometric pressure is 29.37 and falling with a weather graphic
indicating rain.
We had precipitation overnight in the amount of 0.43 inches and in the past
hour of .02. More is coming.
Visibility is 10.0 miles with scattered clouds to 600 feet, mostly cloudy to
2,300 feet and overcast to 3,400 feet.
For those of you who want to know what barometric pressure means, I found
this common sense explanation on USA Today's web site.
Q: What are you measuring when you measure air pressure?
A: When you dive to the bottom of a swimming pool, you feel pressure on your
ears due to the weight of the column of water on top of you. Likewise, when
you are standing on the surface of the Earth, you are at the bottom of a
vast ocean of air. Though it may not seem like it, air does indeed have mass
and weight. If you don't believe me, move your hand back and forth or,
better yet, step outside into a stiff wind. What you are sensing are air
molecules crashing into you.
In detecting atmospheric pressure, a barometer measures the weight of the
column of air stretching directly above it from the surface of the Earth to
the top edge of the atmosphere. This column of atmosphere exerts, on
average, about 14.6 pounds of pressure on every square inch of your body at
sea level. Why aren't we then crushed by the atmosphere? The pressure inside
the body is the same as the pressure outside the body, resulting in no net
pressure.
Q: What's the relationship between barometric pressure and weather?
A: Air has weight, and a barometer measures the changes in air pressure
above. When a high-pressure area is in control, the air sinks. Sinking air
inhibits the development of clouds. When the air sinks, more force pushes
down toward the ground, so the barometric pressure increases. Conversely,
when a low-pressure area moves in, the air rises, cools and condenses out
moisture, which forms clouds and precipitation. Since a rising column of air
above weighs less, the barometric pressure falls.
When the pressure is high or rising, the next 12 to 24 hours should stay
dry, although it might also be very cold. In fact, colder air is denser than
warm air so the highest barometric pressure readings are in winter. Pilots
love to fly in winter because it is easier to take off, and is often
smoother when in flight. When the pressure is dropping or very low, a storm
is approaching or occurring. The lower the pressure the stronger and more
intense the storm.
It's hard to believe that we still use the barometer today to help us
forecast the weather even though we now have computer models, satellite
images and Doppler radar. Italian physicist and mathematician Evangelista
Torricelli invented the mercurial barometer in 1644! Can you imagine walking
around back then before electricity, and understanding that the atmosphere
has weight and inventing an instrument to measure it.
Although Galileo is sometimes given the credit, Torricelli, a friend of
Galileo's, was the first to use a denser liquid and correctly explain how
the weight of the atmosphere affected the water in Galileo's barometer. (If
water is used, the instrument would have to be much taller. Mercury was used
because the liquid is so dense the changes are rather small, only a matter
of inches.) On average, sea level pressure supports 30 inches of mercury.
This morning it is overcast with rain showers, then partly cloudy. High of
48F. Windy. Winds from the NW at 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph. Chance
of rain 50%.
Tonight it will be clear, then partly cloudy. Low of 28F with a windchill as
low as 19F. Windy. Winds from the WNW at 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 35 mph.
The readings outside right now, taken from my own weather instruments:
a relative humidity of 91% with a Dew Point of 43.3ºF.
The temperature is 45.7ºF with a very low wind chill.
Presently we have West winds between 3.4 mph and 5.4 mph, but that will
definitely NOT last. IT is going to get very windy out there, so be prepared
for the odd power outage.
Our Barometric pressure is 29.37 and falling with a weather graphic
indicating rain.
We had precipitation overnight in the amount of 0.43 inches and in the past
hour of .02. More is coming.
Visibility is 10.0 miles with scattered clouds to 600 feet, mostly cloudy to
2,300 feet and overcast to 3,400 feet.
For those of you who want to know what barometric pressure means, I found
this common sense explanation on USA Today's web site.
Q: What are you measuring when you measure air pressure?
A: When you dive to the bottom of a swimming pool, you feel pressure on your
ears due to the weight of the column of water on top of you. Likewise, when
you are standing on the surface of the Earth, you are at the bottom of a
vast ocean of air. Though it may not seem like it, air does indeed have mass
and weight. If you don't believe me, move your hand back and forth or,
better yet, step outside into a stiff wind. What you are sensing are air
molecules crashing into you.
In detecting atmospheric pressure, a barometer measures the weight of the
column of air stretching directly above it from the surface of the Earth to
the top edge of the atmosphere. This column of atmosphere exerts, on
average, about 14.6 pounds of pressure on every square inch of your body at
sea level. Why aren't we then crushed by the atmosphere? The pressure inside
the body is the same as the pressure outside the body, resulting in no net
pressure.
Q: What's the relationship between barometric pressure and weather?
A: Air has weight, and a barometer measures the changes in air pressure
above. When a high-pressure area is in control, the air sinks. Sinking air
inhibits the development of clouds. When the air sinks, more force pushes
down toward the ground, so the barometric pressure increases. Conversely,
when a low-pressure area moves in, the air rises, cools and condenses out
moisture, which forms clouds and precipitation. Since a rising column of air
above weighs less, the barometric pressure falls.
When the pressure is high or rising, the next 12 to 24 hours should stay
dry, although it might also be very cold. In fact, colder air is denser than
warm air so the highest barometric pressure readings are in winter. Pilots
love to fly in winter because it is easier to take off, and is often
smoother when in flight. When the pressure is dropping or very low, a storm
is approaching or occurring. The lower the pressure the stronger and more
intense the storm.
It's hard to believe that we still use the barometer today to help us
forecast the weather even though we now have computer models, satellite
images and Doppler radar. Italian physicist and mathematician Evangelista
Torricelli invented the mercurial barometer in 1644! Can you imagine walking
around back then before electricity, and understanding that the atmosphere
has weight and inventing an instrument to measure it.
Although Galileo is sometimes given the credit, Torricelli, a friend of
Galileo's, was the first to use a denser liquid and correctly explain how
the weight of the atmosphere affected the water in Galileo's barometer. (If
water is used, the instrument would have to be much taller. Mercury was used
because the liquid is so dense the changes are rather small, only a matter
of inches.) On average, sea level pressure supports 30 inches of mercury.
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