# Tag Info

## Hot answers tagged synoptic

### Is there a reliable way to identify regions with negatively-correlated winds?

My suggestion would be to do a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) or Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) analysis on the wind data. The result of the analysis would be a set of modes of variability. ...
• 14.7k

### How is the Rossby Radius used to determine that synoptic weather systems are 1000-2000km across?

The Rossby radius of deformation ($\lambda_{R}$) is a length scale over which adjustment will occur while a system approaches geostrophic equilibrium. In my class noted I have this defined as the ...
• 13.9k
Accepted

### How do tropopause folds form and do they have any impact on synoptic scale weather?

I am not not an expert in meteorology, but do study the chemistry involved in these types of events. My understanding is that the folds in the tropopause generally occur below the front of the jet ...
• 12.7k
Accepted

### Why are frontal zones connected to low-pressure systems but not to high-pressure systems?

Not only are fronts associated with (extratropical) lows, but by in large, fronts are extensions of those lows, as shown by the following hand analysis (from the US Storm Prediction Center): There's ...
• 7,891

### Are the "polar vortex" and "cut-off lows" over/near the Great Lakes new phenomena?

The polar vortex The AMS glossary defines the polar vortex as: A planetary-scale mid- to high-latitude circumpolar cyclonic circulation, extending from the middle troposphere to the stratosphere. The ...
• 13.9k
Accepted

### Cloudless sky in synop message?

Yes, in your example, the group should have been omitted. From the WMO Publication No. 306 - Manual On Codes - Volume I.1 - Part A, Section A, FM 12 SYNOP: 12.2.7 Group 8NhCLCMCH 12.2.7.1 This ...
• 36