Saturday, December 29, 2012

Delta Differences

Courtesy of the Weather Underground
For those familiar with the Delta Junction area, the plot at the left from the Weather Underground nicely illustrates the competing airmass regimes. From Fort Greely northward the Tanana Valley jet is blowing, draining the cold pool still sitting over the upper Tanana Valley. Just to the south, along the Delta River. chinook warmed airmass is in place. If/when the southerly flow breaks through look for temperatures to jump 20F or more in a few minutes at Fort Greely and the immediate Delta Junction area.

Clarification: This is data from about 10am AST Saturday
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6 comments:

  1. NL7YDecember 29, 2012 at 11:42 AM

    That stretch from Tok to Delta might get breezy from the south as well. I've been kicked around some flying through there low level during similar winter wind regimes.

    The George Lake RAWS already shows some wind activity.

    Gary

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  2. RickDecember 29, 2012 at 12:50 PM

    Note though that George Lake is 10F; they are in the Tanana Valley jet. It would be nice to have real time data from near the Highway crossings of the Gerstle, Johnson and Robertson Rivers to learn how the chinook flow works through those valleys.

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    Replies
    1. NL7YDecember 29, 2012 at 1:27 PM

      The problem is power. Low sun angle/exposure and inconsistent wind during mid-winter might make a remote hard to maintain. There are folks living SE of the Alaska Highway adjacent to the Robertson River. Maybe they could help with a local obs station as most likely have off-grid power. Don't have any names off hand.

      Gary

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  3. NL7YDecember 29, 2012 at 1:15 PM

    You know this, but there's always the Dot Lake WX site:

    http://mesowest.utah.edu/cgi-bin/droman/download_ndb.cgi?stn=DTLA2&hour1=22&min1=04&timetype=LOCAL&unit=0&graph=0

    http://mesowest.utah.edu/cgi-bin/droman/mesomap.cgi?state=AK&rawsflag=3

    That, the apparently dead "T" Lake RAWS, and George Creek are about it (worked fish there for a few years). Dot Lake is in between northerly flowing drainages, and that area has some relative protection as I recall.

    Gary



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  4. AussieAlaskanDecember 30, 2012 at 12:21 AM

    It is amazing to see your comments and watch the weather - very cool how the weather works!

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