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STATION WEATHER PLOTS

Weather Forecasting

Beginning of Module


Created by UW-Madison, 2002

Satellite images, fronts, isobars, highs and lows show large scale weather features and help us see the big weather picture. However, meteorologists need to look at the weather data with more detail. One common way to look closer at the weather conditions is with station weather plots. The station weather plot shows the current weather conditions, cloud cover, wind speed, wind direction, visibility, temperature, dew point temperature, atmospheric pressure, and the change in pressure over the last three hours. Here is an example of a surface station weather plot (in black) with labels explaining the data ( in blue).

In this station plot, the temperature is 76 degrees Fahrenheit (F), the dew point is 55F, the wind direction is from the northeast at about 20 knots. The pressure is 1013.8 mb. The pressure tendency indicates that the pressure increased then decreased and is now lower by 0.3 mb than three hours ago. The cloud cover is 100% overcast and it is raining. The amount of sky covered by clouds is indicated by the circle in the center of the station plot. Whatever fraction is filled in represents the fraction of the sky that is cloudy for that location.

Here are some Weather Symbols

Smoke
Haze
Dust
Blowing Snow
Lightning
Funnel Cloud
Light Fog
Thick Fog
 
Precipitation at time of observations
Type
Light
 Moderate
Heavy
Drizzle
Rain
Snow
 
Other types of precipitation
Rain Shower
Snow Shower
Thunderstorm
Freezing drizzle
Freezing rain
Sleet

 

Here are a few practice exercises decoding station weather plots. Have fun and good luck!

 
Example Number 1
Example Number 2
Example Number 3
Example Number 4
Example Number 5
Example Number 6
Example Number 7
Example Number 8
Example Number 9

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