dylfish

Hey Guys, I was looking for a little advice as a novice. I've always had a large interest in weather and photography, which is good since they go hand in hand. I've got the photography down through lots of practice (landscape) over the years, but I would like to incorporate weather prediction into working out when there is a higher chance of certain types of cloud, thunderstorms, shelf clouds and the such. I've been reading about weather for the last 3 months straight nearly every night and I have learnt a lot about certain aspects, but nothing that has moulded together to help with what I want to know. Is there any advice people could give me on what I should study (I work full time so it's all personal study) and what's relevant and what isn't. I know I'll never work for the weather office,but I would like to be able to pick out myself when certain features would be occurring (and why they are so and why they may change) or when conditions are what I am after (to save A LOT of wasted early morning trips). Any help would be much appreciated. I think the lack of structure is what is hurting me currently. Cheers

Sorry mate, I'm sure it was due to my wording. I had just finished work so my brain was a little cooked. I'll do a little more reading for now and see what else pops into my head. Thanks for you help thus far =) Cheers

Thanks Knocker! That seriously answers a few questions that were lingering. Just to follow up and make sure I was on the right track I'll try re explain it? What I gathered (Numbers and letters correspond above) 1) The geopotential height is the height of all the pressure surfaces below it. (all figures are made up!) 2) A) Colder air below will have a lower height than relatively warmer air since it is more dense / compact and takes up less space. B) Higher pressure will have a higher height since the 1000mb level that the first measurement is taken from is usually higher than the surface pressure and with low pressure the surface pressure will be lower than the 1000mb mark. A few more questions What is the easiest way to determine if the heights are caused by thermal changes or pressure? Is it as easy as consulting a MLSP to check for pressure. If there is warming mid level (eg. 500mb Inversion) will the pressure surface below it lower due to the air below being relativity colder with the pressure surface above (Say 400mb) rise due the warmer layer below? Sorry if Q2 is a bit ambiguous. I'm just having problems trying to articulate my thoughts. Oh and sorry if I take a while to answer. I'm in Australia =)

Hi Guys, I was wondering if somebody could explain to me why in Geopotential heights. Lower heights - Have low pressure or a cold atmosphere below. High heights - Have a high pressure below or a warmer atmosphere below. I was under the impression a cold atmosphere would decease heights due to the higher density of cold air and place more pressure on the surface, while warm air would do the opposite. In the above image heights seems to follow the temperature, with the poles having lower heights that closer to the tropics. That makes sense to me,but don't the poles have higher pressures compared to the equator? The fact that lower heights also represent low pressure seems to contradict this. Is there any way to tell if the change in height is due to thermal or pressure changes? Sorry for the incoherent rambling. This is just getting me really stuck as of late! Thanks.