On 2/29/2016 12:37 PM, John Cochrane wrote:
On Monday, February 29, 2016 at 9:22:12 AM UTC-8,
wrote:
Having used XC skies and now Topmeteo, I wonder what's the need to get
the forecasted SKEW -T diagram to points along your task. Will you as, a
pilot, get any better prediction of soaring conditions if you use both ?
Dan

Pretty maps tell you what is supposed to happen. Skew T tells you why --
and helps you to figure out why it's not happening.

For example a "top of lift" occasioned by a very shallow intersection of
adiabatic parcel with the surrounding air is a very different forecast than
one with a hard inversion.

Skew T shows the vertical profile of wind and direction.

Skew T shows you how close you are to things not in the graphical forecast.
How close to OD/not OD? How close to cirrus formation?

John Cochrane

Succinctly stated.

I saw my first lapse rate diagram as a sketch on a napkin by my officemate
before I'd ever been to a glider field; its predictive power was immediately
apparent to me. (I still have it! And, I eventually learned the NWS had
something called a Skewed-T plot.) Perhaps that's why I still prefer to
generate my own daily forecasts from as primary data as is obtainable on any
given day (sometimes, eyeballs-only!).

Bob - a "Why?" kinda guy - W.