Clouds and Precipitation at 16 km between Data Points
Description
This image is a visualization of the Deep Thunder forecast for the
lowest-resolution nest at 16 km resolution focused on New York City.
It shows the local terrain as a shaded surface that is colored by contour
bands of total precipitation (as rain in inches), following the scale to
the upper right, where brown implies no rain (dry) and heavier rainfall
is in darker shades of blue. If the model predicts no precipitation
then a similar visualization of humidity will be shown instead. If
areas where precipitation is forecasted are sufficiently cold, then they
may be marked with large or small Xs for snow. The smaller markers
imply light snow or flurries. In animation,
areas of precipitation will appear to "paint" the surface blue.
Since the precipitation is accumulated through the model run, regions which stop
showing changes in color imply that the precipitation has ended. In some cases
when that happens and the temperature is sufficiently cold, snow markers may appear.
This implies that wet surfaces may be beginning to freeze.
The terrain is overlaid with maps of coastlines in black, state and national
boundaries in white, county boundaries in gray and rivers in blue.
Individual landmarks and cities are shown by name. The terrain map is in a
three-dimensional scene with predicted clouds.
The clouds are shown as a translucent white (boundary) surface derived
from a threshold of total cloud water density (liquid and ice) where the
ratio of that total to the contents of the atmosphere is 0.0001 kg of water
per kg of air. If the model predicts severe weather, such as convective
activity that could lead to the formation of thunderstorms, then a translucent
cyan surface may be visible within the clouds. The region within
this cyan surface corresponds to where precipitation is forming within
the clouds (e.g., rain shafts) and where any storm activity would be the
most severe.
Instructions
By clicking and dragging your mouse inside each image you can interact
with the visualization in a three-dimensional sense. Alternatively,
you can also see a similar visualization animated
in time.
More Visualizations of
the Current Forecast
Learn More about These Forecasts
Recent High-Resolution Local Satellite
Observations
Learn
More about Deep Thunder
Learn
More about how Deep Thunder Visualizes the Data Generated by the
Weather Model
Current Weather
Information and Predictions for New York City (from the National Weather
Service)
Current Model Results from the National
Weather Service
Recent High-Resolution Local Radar Observations
Evaluation of Recent Forecasts
