Figure 1
Click on image to enlarge
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August 29, 2001
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Cloud Climatologies for Tallahassee Florida |
| Monthly cloud frequency composites provide a perspective on year to year and month to month variability over a region. The following figure shows the overall monthly cloud frequency composites derived from GOES-8 visible (1 km) imagery for June, July, and August from 1996-2000 for an area centered over the weather forecast office at Tallahassee, Florida. (Data are currently being collected and processed for the 2001 season). Hourly imagery from 1415 to 2115 UTC were combined to create the composites. Although there is variability from month to month on the location of clouds, the influence of the sea-breeze front on cloud formation can readily be seen in most all the composites: there is a higher frequency of clouds along the coastlines and lower cloud frequency inland over Georgia and Alabama. The months of June for 1997-99 do not fit this pattern as well as other months. June of 1997 and 1999 appear to have significant cloud coverage, while June of 1998, with a persistent subsident high, causing record heat across the region, had very little cloud coverage. |
Figure 1
Click on image to enlarge
An example of the development of cloud frequency
throughout the day can be seen in the following loop for July, 1999.
At 1415 UTC (1015 LDT), higher cloud frequencies are seen inland in Georgia
and Alabama and are the result of low-level fog and stratus. Other
high cloud frequencies are seen offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and represent
lingering convection from the overnight land breeze. There is very little
cloud cover over the Florida peninsula and there are no cloud lines along
the coasts that indicate the convergence along the sea breeze front.
By 1615 UTC, cloud frequency has increased along coastal regions and cloud
frequency has decreased inland over Georgia and Alabama. For inland
areas, this decrease in cloud frequency further confirms that the clouds
were low stratus or fog and have dissipated by daytime heating.
By 1815 UTC there is an increase of cloud frequency along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, and there is a thin strip along the coasts with lower cloud frequency indicating that the sea breeze front has progressed inland. At 2015 UTC, the lower cloud frequency regions along the coast are more apparent, particularly on the Atlantic coast, and indicate the inward progression of the sea breeze front. The data displayed here come from a larger ongoing
regime satellite climatology project being conducted between the WFO in
Tallahassee and CIRA. Browse the web page (http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/clim/menutala.html
) for the latest results on this project.
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Regional
and Mesoscale Meteorology Team
Cooperative Institute for Research in the
Atmosphere (CIRA)
We welcome your comments and discussion at ramsdis@comet.ucar.edu
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| Information Contact: Lewis Grasso |
| CIRA/RAMM WebMaster: Hiro Gosden |
| Author: Bernadette Connell |
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