Thermal Forcasting -Thermal index

On 11/26/2010 12:25 PM, gldrgidr wrote:


I have not been flying sailplanes for the last decade but I have been
flying R/C gliders. It would be great if I could determine what level
of lift I could expect for any flying day. Most of my flying is done
below 600 feet from a small local park. I realize that the ROAB
balloon soundings are only done for altitudes in 1000' increments so
they might not work for those of us who fly close to the ground. What
would be involved in getting my own sounding? I'm thinking of using
an electric powered plane in place of a balloon. Is there a small
device that would record the soundings?

If you are only interested in the first 1000', I suspect a soaring
forecast won't help very much. I'm guessing you want a lot sun and an
inversion at 1000' (or fly early, before the convection gets above
1000'), so there are plenty of thermals per square mile. Try this tool
for a forecast sounding that can show the lower level details:

http://rucsoundings.noaa.gov/

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

If you are only interested in the first 1000', I suspect a soaring
forecast won't help very much. I'm guessing you want a lot sun and an
inversion at 1000' (or fly early, before the convection gets above
1000'), so there are plenty of thermals per square mile. Try this tool
for a forecast sounding that can show the lower level details:

http://rucsoundings.noaa.gov/

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

Great Info. Thanks to all who replied.

I'm actually flying hand launch (DLG) and a small 1.5 meter electric
powered glider.