Weather Archive for Wednesday, 1/5/05

Another colorful day on the South Coast.  Most of the country was buried under clouds, snow, and rain.  Our south coast had been in the storm track for a couple of weeks, with fluxing conditions and shifty windows of opportunity.  Wednesday looked promising, but there was plenty of moisture and a good lapse rate to lift it to the dew point.

The day dawned clear, but a shelf of clouds moved over us from the west about 9 am.  Prior to that, the SB range was in full sun and CUs were starting to pop marking good lift running east.  The thick shelf shut it down, but it thinned some about 10:30, followed by OD, and then more thinning, and finally about 11 am full sun for a half hour or so.

Once the sun hit, the day lit off.  Cloud base was variable; some lower stuff in the mid 3s, and a higher shelf in the mid 5s.  The sun hole moved east, but closed up in OD.