How to Read a Skew-T?

Skid

Skid

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Apr 23, 2017
Messages
195
Display Name
Display name:
Skid
Does anyone have any good resources on how to interpret Skew-Ts? To be honest I had never heard of them until I saw them mentioned on here in other threads. They seem like a great resource especially down here in Florida. Trying to find something that clearly explains it without getting too deep into the subject. A lot of the resources I've found are overly technical for how stupid I am. Any good articles that explain it for the beginner?

Also, any website that is more or less the "go-to" for getting them? Can't seem to find anywhere that not only seems reliable but also displays them in an easy to read format.
 
 
Generically...

Trace to the right is temp, trace on the left is dew point, Delta between them at any altitude is how moist the air is (traces close together = Moist, cloud development). Wind barbs on the right usually.

Keep in mind skew-t's aren't calibrated vertically in feet but in pressure levels, and pressure levels vary in altitude greatly day to day, locale to locale. You've probably noticed this in the difference between your altimeter set for whatever pressure ATC/ATIS/ASOS says saying one altitude and your GPS saying another... A bit of an issue in the aerial mapping business.

If you've got specific Q's give me a hollar, I've got a degree in the stuff.
 
Todd82 said:
If you've got specific Q's give me a hollar, I've got a degree in the stuff.
Click to expand...
Todd, I might take you up on that too.
What's your QTH? Even considered doing an intro and advanced webinar for pah-lots? I think the more people know how to interpret Skew-T charts, the better off we'll be as a community. Tops, icing, storms, lots of great info in the charts.
 
I thought the Glider Flying Handbook had a decent tutorial, but when I looked at the online version I couldn't find that info. I wonder if they dropped it from a more recent version? I have a hard copy somewhere, I'll have to look.

I got some private lessons from a meteorologist buddy that helped a lot.
 
Be sure to drink the Kool Aid before you start
 
My understanding is that if you want to have a rough idea of where cloud tops are you look for where the lines split apart, although someone correct me if that's not right.
 
BigBadLou said:
Todd, I might take you up on that too.
What's your QTH? Even considered doing an intro and advanced webinar for pah-lots? I think the more people know how to interpret Skew-T charts, the better off we'll be as a community. Tops, icing, storms, lots of great info in the charts.
Click to expand...
I'm in Ohio, Dayton-Cincy area.

You'll really want a source that includes not just the skew t but the heights as well. For *actual* data your best bet is probably http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html Balloon launches are 11z and 23z (to get a full flight in by 12/00z) from roughly half the NWS offices. From the above site you can get both the skews and the text.

I saw a link for RUC soundings up there, and while model data can get you a gridded point closer than the actual balloon sites, model data is sometimes a bit screwy, and there are differences between individual models, i.e. some are more for modeling convection, some are not, etc.

Using this morning's launch at KILN near me http://weather.uwyo.edu/cgi-bin/sou...AR=2017&MONTH=06&FROM=0112&TO=0112&STNM=72426

You can see the large gap between the temp and dew point traces, it has been a "severe clear" day locally because basically the entire column is dry. The gray line between the dark black temp and dew point lines is a depiction of a parcel rising dry adiabatically then moist adiabatic up. If your temp trace is encroaching that to the left or crosses it, expect build ups generally speaking. All to the right like in this example is stability generally speaking.

I'll try to post some better "severe wx" examples when I see them the next few days, overall we are in a calm pattern for June 1.
 
Good questions!
Good video intro!
And thanks for educating us.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top