Weather Archive for Sunday, 11/16/03

Mild Post Frontal.  Building high pressure.  Some convection clouds leaning from the north, fading to mostly clear skies.  Good visibility with just a touch of haze.  The low went by to our south rather than above us, so the post frontal wind was more of a north rather than a NW.

The forecast was calling for 100 knot winds above 30K, 45 knots above 18K, but lighter down lower.  I was leery about the potential for the wind to get pulled down by vertical mixing, but the pull down never materialized.  The channel forecast correctly indicated light winds for the south coast.  Our local channel winds actually decreased through the day.  We did have some problematic north wind above ridge line, and down lower across the canyons earlier.  The upper wind direction was mostly north to NW, and a little NE in a few localized areas.  The Rock was coming up early, and The Bypass seemed to be below the north also.  The Liminator took a bit longer to block.  The morning flow below 3K was mostly light from the SE, swinging around from the SW later, but the lower level afternoon winds were lighter than normal.

The lapse rated started out good, but seemed to fade quickly in the afternoon, and shut down early.  Climb rates were good in the middle of the day, but weak after 2 pm.  There was some ratty turb in the sheer zones, particularly along Castle Ridge which was OTB at ridge line, but still had thermals coming up the south face.

Heard a lot of pilots flying from The Skyport to the beaches ranging from SB to Bates.  Got reports of a few pilots staying up in weak conditions at Solimar.  The SB mountains reportedly shut down early.  A group that launched from the Skyport later in the afternoon flushed