IEM Daily Feature
Tuesday, 15 September 2020

Calm Winds Aloft

Posted: 15 Sep 2020 01:51 PM

Each day, locations like the Omaha and Davenport NWS Offices release helium filled balloons with instrumentation attached that generate vertical profiles of our troposphere and into the stratosphere. These balloons are released twice per day at 6 AM and 6 PM CST (7 AM / 7 PM CDT). The featured chart presents the morning (12z) 500 hPa wind speeds reported for the Omaha site this year along with a climatology based on available archive for the site. The 500 hPa level is an important level for understanding how storm systems will move and develop. This morning's wind speed was only 1 meter per second and about as calm as you will find at this level in the atmosphere for any time of year.

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