Iraq Weather & Maps - 03/26/03

AccuWeather / Weather Channel / NOAA / CNN Weather | March 25th, 2003 | Sabertooth

[Sabertooth]

Much cooler weather will move into Iraq Wednesday in the wake of the storm system. Visibility will improve across northern Iraq. Gusty winds over the south will keep the dust and sand flying.

High pressure will slowly build toward Iraq on Thursday. This will cuase the wind to ease resulting in an end to the dust storms. Warmer air will also build back into the country.

In a small effort to help America keep tabs on loved ones overseas, Weather Underground now offers free, downloadable Middle East weather maps suitable for publication. Keep your readers informed, with color graphics and accurate weather information - free.
All forecast info is incorporated at the moment of download, for greatest accuracy.
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Middle East Satellite    Click to Enlarge	Middle East Forecast    Click to Enlarge

Iraq Forecast Day    Click to Enlarge	Iraq Forecast Night    Click to Enlarge

Baghdad Climate March - April     Click to Enlarge	Baghdad Climate May - June     Click to Enlarge

[Tamzee]

Satellite imagery loop of Iraq area...

http://www.meteo.psu.edu/rtwx/ewall/ewalliraq.html

[Wthrman13]

Being a meteorologist, I've been quite interested in this storm indeed. It is quite intense indeed, showing a nice wrapped-up occluded structure on satellite, which also means it should start to weaken soon and probably already has. Too bad that weather information from that part of the world isn't very comprehensive or easily available. I did find a web site of interest from the OWS (Operational Weather Squadron) of the U.S. military:

http://ows.public.sembach.af.mil/wxcharts/wxcharts.htm

These show some synoptic weather charts and forecasts over Europe, but you can see the Iraq storm in the lower right hand corner. The U.S. military has a lot of weather support out there (in fact Iraq probably never has had as good of a observational network as it does now). It would be certainly interesting if and when the military declassifies their weather observations in the future, to go back and run some numerical models with that data to analyze the structure and evolution of this storm (probably will be fuel for several Masters Theses for military meteorologists at the very least).

Here is an article in Forbes that talks about the OWS's role in this war:

http://www.forbes.com/personalfinance/retirement/newswire/2003/03/25/rtr919520.html

Hope this is of some interest

[Sabertooth]

Hope this is of some interest

Very much so, thanks. I've got a question I've been trying to answer. Last week I heard an Israeli, who is a regular guest on the Hugh Hewitt Show, say that this storm had been randomly desgnated "Jeremiah," by whatever international weather services are responsible for that type of thing. Do you know where I might confirm or refute that?

[Tamzee]

Several maps reflecting pressure systems, precipitation, upper level pressures, etc, all here in split window. Images can all be animated:

http://www.meteo.psu.edu/rtwx/ewall/MEAVN_0z/avnloop.html

[Wthrman13]

Great link there! I've used the PSU E-wall page in the past, but I didn't know they were doing Iraq coverage. There are also operational model forecasts linked on that page. The UKMET, AVN, and CMC models (initialized 0000 UTC last night, so about 30 hours ago) all show a very nice upper-level low in the eastern Mediterranean, which moves east and begins to weaken rapidly once it moves over Iraq (right about now). Just for a little background, the UKMET is the United Kingdom's operational global weather forecast model, the AVN is the U.S's and the CMC is Canada's.

Here's a link to the AVN loop:

http://www.meteo.psu.edu/rtwx/ewall/MEAVN_0z/avnloop.html

Without getting into too much detail, the upper-left panel shows some atmospheric variables at the 500 mb level (about midway up through the troposphere). The big bulls-eye is a major low-pressure system. The upper-right panel shows the surface pressure fields. One can see the storm move rapidly off to the east and weaken in the loop, followed by much quieter and drier weather.

[Wthrman13]

Lol, I was working on my post so I didn't see yours.

[Wthrman13]

Sorry, I've heard this "Jeremiah" report second-hand through this forum as well, but I haven't followed up on that. I do know that storm systems like this are not given names on any kind of a regular basis. The only storms that are officially given names are tropical cyclones (hurricanes, typhoons, etc.). So, whoever named this storm "Jeremiah" was either doing so tounge-in-cheek, or as a way of informally marking this storm as significant due to its current context. However, I will look into this and let you know what I find.

[Tamzee]

I'm glad you appreciated it :-) Am taking a very incredible Meteo course through Penn State online and the instructor set up the links. I've been finding it quite interesting predicting potential military activity based on what I know the weather to be like the next day.

[Wthrman13]

Very cool. I've heard nothing but good things about Penn State's Meteo program. Personally, I went to Purdue for my B.S. in atmospheric dynamics, and currently working towards my Master's and Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma. Best of luck in your course!

[Tamzee]

One more, not sure if you have this. Current weather station data from areas surrounding Iraq (it will be good to see Iraq covered in a few years too)..

http://www.meteo.psu.edu/rtwx/ewall/SFC_MEHR/sfcloop.html

I am enjoying the course very much, thanks :-)

[Sabertooth]

However, I will look into this and let you know what I find.

I think I'm probably the original source for that, though I've been careful to say it's unconfirmed. The report that I heard on the radio said that the name was randomly selected by computer, but who knows?

This is going to be a regular thread, do you guys want to be on the ping list for it?

[Tamzee]

Yes, please, pings would be great :-)

[Wthrman13]

Thanks for the link. Yes, it will be good thing to get weather info from Iraq. Meteorology is one of the true global sciences: without weather obs from every part of the globe, forecasts that rely on this data will be crippled, both globally and locally, depending on the size of the nation that won't share its weather information. Thus it is imperative that we have international cooperation on sharing weather obs, and this has indeed been the case for decades, and hopefully that never changes. Heck, even France shares its weather obs with us.

[Sabertooth]

You got it. BTW, I've got a lot of different lists... General, Middle East, Illegal Aliens, Science/Crevo, Archaeology, Michelle Malkin, Baseball, and Poetry. Some only get used occasionally. You can pick and choose.

[Tamzee]

I would appreciate being included in your General and Middle East lists... thanks much :-)

[Tamzee]

Iraq will be included soon... sooner than Saddam would like LOL

We should ask one of the troops to shoot off a weather balloon after they take Baghdad, it would be like planting a flag for global science :-)

[steveegg]

Thanks for the weather update.

[MeekOneGOP]

[nana4bush]

Thanks so much for the ping. Unimaginable conditions for our troops and equipment to have to face - combatting the forces of nature and the forces of evil.

[xJones]

Please put me on your ping list. This is great information.