Hi Steve–I’m confused about how to tell the difference between a stable trough that runs from the northeast to the southwest and an unstable one that runs from the southwest to the northeast ( page 180, top paragraph). How do you tell them apart? On page 168, you suggest using clipboards to organize the surface and 500mb charts. Do you use six of them? It seems like a lot but I’m having trouble organizing the paper explosion.
First, about page 180–I can see why you are confused as it is bass-ackwards! Sorry about that. When the 500mb trough axis runs from the Northeast to the Southwest, you can expect vigorous surface development. When the 500mb trough axis has rotated around to where it is running Northwest to Southeast, it is typically at the end of the cycle and the next step will be for a closed situation to form, and then the surface low to fill. Regarding organizing the “paper explosion” this is always difficult on a small boat. We use two clipboards, one for surface and the other for 500mb. Then I use small clamps for each time period. Another approach is to keep the faxes in a divided notebook. The objective in all of this is to get the material organized so that you can get a feel for the rhythm of the surface and 500mb features.
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
