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WEEKEND SOARING FORECAST, FEBRUARY 3 to 6, 2012

Predictably consistent in a word or two. Our weather will largely be unchanged throughout this period. Sunny and mild with unlimited visibility and a gentle Northeast wind component will dominate. It will likely be windy in Los Angeles and the canyons this weekend but gentle to mild with great soaring weather here.

Expect to find the typical narrow, slanted and choppy winter thermals mixed with ridge lift and the likelihood of bow wave along and ahead of North slopes if the wind keeps above 10 knots or so. With mesoscale weather influencing this airmass it is likely to be smooth and steady as opposed to local and variable. Looks to be a great opportunity to polish lift finding and holding skills along with stick and rudder artistry ahead of the fast approaching boomer season. Tallyho!

THERMAL UPDRAFT STRENGTH FORECAST FOR FRIDAY 1300 HRS.

The National Weather Service is predicting the following local surface conditions for Friday through Monday:

FRIDAY:
Sunny. Temperature: 60 degrees
Wind: Northeast 5 to 15 mph.

SATURDAY:
Sunny, Temperature: 60 degrees
Wind: Northeast 5 to 15 mph.

SUNDAY
Sunny, Temperature: 63 degrees
Wind: Northeast 5 to 10 mph.

MONDAY:
Sunny, Temperature: 63 degrees
Wind: Northeast 5 to 10 mph.

-Robert….

WEEKEND SOARING FORECAST, JANUARY 27 to 30, 2012

Sunny, warm, and dry conditions will dominate this period. Our airmass will arrive out of the Northeast as a stationary ridge of high pressure parks over SoCal through next week.

Gentle North component winds indicate bow wave and ridge lift opportunities for this period. Warm clear air should allow the sun to heat up some of our local thermal producers. The skew-T forecast indicates inversions typical of this type of weather pattern though limiting height of thermals to a few thousand feet AGL.

The National Weather Service is predicting the following local surface conditions for Friday through Monday:

FRIDAY:
Sunny. Temperature: 66 degrees
Wind: West 5 to 10 mph. Becoming Northeast at appx. noon.

SATURDAY:
Sunny, Temperature: 63 degrees
Wind: East 10 to 15 mph.

SUNDAY
Sunny, Temperature: 66 degrees
Wind: Northeast 5 mph.

MONDAY:
Sunny, Temperature: 64 degrees
Wind: West 10 mph. Becoming Northeast.

-Robert….

WEEKEND SOARING FORECAST, JANUARY 20 to 23, 2012

I am looking forward to flying wave tomorrow (Friday) in my HP-18 (22HY). Winds aloft look good at the 10,000 foot level for most of the day. Good enough for wave but not remarkable in velocity. Unusual weekend of weather in store. We’ll have two separate pulses of cool low pressure weather pass through quickly from the Northwest. Starting Saturday it will be wet on the coast but as usual we’ll likely be dry here in our high desert with only a slight chance of clouds. Again wave is forecast for Saturday with winds aloft at 180 degrees it should happen. Sunday it will be sunny and clear as a ridge of high pressure builds in. I expect there may be another day of wave Sunday and even Monday (pre-frontal and post-frontal) as late Monday afternoon the second albeit weaker weather system makes its arrival from the West.

My suggestion for the weekend, come out and fly wave with us!

VERTICAL VELOCITY FORECAST 1300 HOURS FRIDAY

The National Weather Service is predicting the following local surface conditions for Friday through Monday:

FRIDAY:
Sunny with clouds. Temperature: 63 degrees
Wind: West 15 mph.

SATURDAY:
Partly Cloudy, Temperature: 61 degrees
Wind: Southwest 15 to 25 mph. Gusty.

SUNDAY
Sunny, Temperature: 57 degrees
Wind: Northeast 5 to 10 mph.

MONDAY:
Sunny, Temperature: 55 degrees
Wind: Southwest 10 to 15 mph.

-Robert….

WEEKEND SOARING FORECAST, JANUARY 13 to 16, 2012

It will be nice and sunny with gentle to calm winds throughout this period. A cutoff low is spinning down off our west coast and will move off to the northeast around Sunday or so. Combined with general high pressure over the great basin it sets us up for more warm dry offshore Northeast to East wind Friday through Saturday. The gradients are very small so the wind will be gentle for the most part.
As the low makes landfall and passes Northeast on Sunday, the coast will likely be overcast. NWS is predicting drizzle on the coast. We will be sunny with continuing nice weather here at Crystal though so ignore the newscasts for the LA weather.

We will keep an eye out for potential wave activity Sunday as the weak low zooms by us on its way North. The gradients are weak but we’ll see how it develops as we get closer to the date and have a clearer picture of the speed of winds aloft.
Sunday and Monday gentle Westerlies return and we can enjoy taking off from runway 25 again.

SCSA -SUNSET. Tucking the ships in for the night after a day of winter soaring fun.

ROSS BRIGLIEB AT NASA DRYDEN in front of the M-2 lifting body test bed he and his father built over 50 years ago.

NASA MODIFIED SCHWEIZER 232. Yup, that’s a night flying stealth recon sailplane under all that stuff. Wood prop is a work of art.

The National Weather Service is predicting the following local surface conditions for Friday through Monday:

FRIDAY:
Sunny. Temperature: 61 degrees
Wind: East 5 to 10 mph.

SATURDAY:
Sunny, Temperature: 61 degrees
Wind: East 5 mph.

SUNDAY
Sunny, Temperature: 59 degrees
Wind: West 5 to 10 mph.

MONDAY:
Sunny, Temperature: 55 degrees
Wind: Southwest 10 mph.

-Robert….