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| Classic shortwave trough example:12/5/96 | |
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The following are difax maps, which we no longer have, and are the
500 mb heights and vorticity forecast. They are the NGM
run and show an impressive shortwave trough moving through a zonal flow in the
longwave pattern (the jet stream).
The solid black lines are the heights. They are close together, or packed, which shows a rapid change in heights over a short distance and thus fast winds. This is the jet stream. One will also notice that the lines run west to east with little change to the north or south. This is considered to be a zonal flow. The dashed black lines are the vorticity with an "x" to depict the center of maximum vorticity and an "n" to mark the center of minimum voticity. The values of the vorticity, marked by the dashed lines, decrease with distance away from the center of maximum vorticity, marked by the "x". |