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Lexington - 3/9/17. 9°. 24 ‘ south. 103°. 23 ‘ west



I have the 6-10 a.m. watch for now. It is a slightly cool morning with a 10-12 knot southeast wind, from 120 degrees. I just remembered that I should explain wind direction. The saying to remember is “wind is from where she blows, current is to where she goes”. So a southeast wind is coming from the southeast. We are headed at 260 degrees which would be called west southwest. Directly west is 270 degrees and we are headed a little south of that but still more west. If we had a favorable current, that is carrying us to our destination, it would be called a westsouthwest current. It is not as confusing as I have made it.
We have good weather information but that is for the whole big area. I try to figure out what we are having locally. We have high cirrus clouds above us. Cirrus clouds are also called mares tails. They are wispy, very thin clouds which are sort of streaked or pulled apart. They are actually ice crystals. I think they are about 20,000 to 50,000 feet high. AGAIN DO NOT TAKE THIS FOR GOD’s TRUTH. Below the cirrus clouds are some lower stratocumulus clouds that can be seen moving across from the southeast. If you can see a cloud moving like these are then you can give a good guess that they are moving at around 100 miles an hour. Your surface winds are 25-50 percent of the velocity of upper winds. Remember that these clouds are high in the sky where winds are greater because there is less friction. They would be a good indication that we will have brisk winds. Ahead of us at the horizon there is a concentration of thick cumulostratus clouds which I think I should associate with a chance of rain.
From all of the above, my conclusions should be that we have a cold air mass approaching from the southeast. As a cold air mass moves toward a warm air mass, it is pushed up by the warm air that it is going up and over. At the interface of the warm moist air (moist because it is over water) and the cold air, condensation occurs causing the cirrus clouds. They are wispy because the winds are strong at that level. In Kentucky this would be a sign of a cold front. It is probably a little different in the tropics. The lower bank of cumulostratus clouds are probably the interface of the cold air mass and warm air mass at a lower altitude. As the cold air mass moves, it forms a wedge of old cold air much thinner and higher at the leading edge. Far behind the leading edge, the cold air mass would be much taller and lower to the earth. This is where the warm air has cold air above it but at a lower altitude. Again condensation would occur but thru a greater vertical height causing a thicker blanket of clouds.
This post has probably stretched your patience for detail crap. It has definitely stretched my memory and understanding. If someone out there is a weather guru, give me a grade on how accurate this post was. If someone knows Rich Lewis, send it to him for grading.
Hope all is well with you. May the winds of life keep your sails full of joy and kindness. How is that for bull? Bob

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