I am gonna show you how the atmosphere has changed from one week ago. The following plots show the winds that were observed by weather balloon launches that occur twice daily; once at 8am and once at 8pm. These launches are critical to being able to see the state of the atmosphere as well as aiding computer models with starting conditions. Plotted on the maps below are the 500 mb heights. For those who do not know what that is, 500 mb equates to anywhere from 17,000 to 19,o00 feet in the atmosphere. This is a key pressure level as lost of weather systems are found here. The lines are contoured every 60 meters. The numbers shown are in decameters .. sorry for the confusion to anyone who reads this. Other lines on here are for temperature at this level. The flags are the wind direction and speed. At this level in the atmosphere the winds are parallel to the black contour lines. The first plot is what was observed at 8:00pm Wednesday, June 11. At this time, a large area of higher heights and lines bent upward mean a ridge of high pressure. This means very hot weather as well as very light winds at this level( shown by a small amount of contours)
The next plot is from 8:00pm Wednesday, June 18. We now have a deep dipping of the lines or a trough of low pressure and heights... the complete opposite of what was observed last week. The lines are also closer together meaning stronger winds at this level.
This is a major reason why it has been much cooler today and will be in the low to middle 50s tomorrow morning with highs around 86 during the day.
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