Reading a Station Model from a Weather map

Cold Fronts & Warm Fronts

High and Low Pressure Systems Blue "H" = High pressure HAPPY weather - Usually calm, sunny Red "L" = Low pressure LOUSY weather - Can mean storminess

Air Temperature: The number to the upper left of each station is the air temperature in degrees. Fahrenheit (U.S. maps) or Celsius (Other countries)

Cloud Cover OBSCURED: Smog, smoke, haze, volcanic ash, dust, sand, sea spray, heavy rain (torrential), heavy snow (blizzard), or blowing snow.

Wind and Wind Direction Wind is blowing from Long barb = 10 knots Short barb = 5 knot = 50 knots

Dew Point The number to the lower left of each station is the dew point temperature in degrees. Fahrenheit (U.S. maps) or Celsius (Other countries). The dew point is a measure of moisture. It shows how much you'd have to cool the air to get a relative humidity of 100 percent. The higher the dew point, the more water vapor there is for producing rain or snow.

Barometric Pressure LOCATION: The number to the upper right of each station model is the barometric pressure. The typical sea-level pressure is a little bit more than 1000 millibars.

How to Read & Write the Barometric Pressure The number has been compressed to fit the map by lopping off the first one or two digits (which are always a "10" or a "9") and omitting the decimal point before the last digit. For example: The code "085" would mean 1008.5 millibars. The code “954” would mean 995.4 millibars. Steps: Add the decimal point 2. Decide if you need to add a “10” or a “9” • If the code starts with a 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 then add “10” • If the code starts with a 6, 7, 8, 9 then add a “9”

Weather Conditions The type of weather occurring at the time the observation is taken is written between the temperature and dew point. (Middle left-side) In this case, fog was reported.