LAKELAND FLORIDA DAILY CLIMATOLOGICAL WEATHER DATA ARCHIVE
Welcome to my weather observing web blog styled web page. I took up weather
observing as a hobby in 1965 and 47 years later I still find it a fascinating
and fulfilling hobby.
I'm medically retired military, the U.S. Coast Guard. In
the military I worked in radio communications as well as aviation and marine
weather forecasting/pilot briefings, physical oceanographic research and
environmental law enforcement, to include chemical and oil spill prevention and
cleanup. I also worked in weather forecasting for some
private weather forecasting companies, other federal government entities and in
my private consulting business. After 31 years of work I retired in 2004 at age 47.
I was involved in professional
severe storm chasing and research between 1984-1987 and 1994-1996. I did my
chasing across the Great Plains from Texas in the south to North Dakota in the
north, Colorado in the west to Kansas in the east, also Florida and
Georgia. During the eight year period I observed 29 tornadoes on the ground.
One was an F-5, ten were F-4's, ten were F-3's and eight were F-2's. Beginning
in 1994 I was one of the first meteorological researcher to carry a lap top computer (very
large compared to now) and download radar mages, etc. from the Internet via a
cell phone.
My full parameter weather observing station is a model #6152 Davis Vantage Pro2
with model #6312 v1.90 LCD console/receiver, model #7747 fan aspirated instrument shelter kit and model #6332 wireless
wind vane/anemometer transmitter kit. It's tied to my personal computer with the
Davis 6510SER v1.0.8 data logger/PC interface. Wind data uploads occur in a 1.5 second
interval,
temperature and precipitation related parameters a 10 second interval and barometric pressure a 60
second interval.
I also purchased a Davis model #6351 Vantage Vue console/receiver so as to be able to carry with me live weather observations
anywhere in my house and property. It has some bells and whistles that the #6312
console/receiver does not.
As far as software I use the
excellent Weather Display v10.37R b03. I have a dedicated
computer for the weather software. It's a home brewed PC clone running a 2.17 ghz
AMD Athlon XP 3000+ processor with 2.048 gigs of RAM, a 160 gig hard drive and runs the
Windows XP Home SP3 OS.
The model #7747 fan aspirated instrument shelter
kit comes with only one solar panel that produces 1.8 volts under optimum solar
conditions. This under powers the ventilation fan in my opinion. So I
added a 2 volt DC switching power supply at the weather station and now the fan
runs 24 hours per day. This provides for more accurate night time minimum
temperature readings, as already happens with day time maximum temperatures.
All weather observation parameters are uploaded in real time to the
Internet via a (Roadrunner Lightning) 40000 kbps download 5000 kbps upload speed permanent broadband connection.
My weather station is part of the partnership between the National
Weather Service (NWS) and private Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS), as
well as the volunteer Citizens Weather Observer Program (CWOP) and is ID'ed as #AR692/NZ4O.
The weather observation data enters the NOAA Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS)
in Boulder, CO, where it enters
the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) weather
forecast model
and 500+ other end users.
I live on the west central Florida peninsula which is located
within the lightning capital of the western hemisphere, with on average 120
thunderstorm days per year. During the summer lightning season, which runs from
the last week of May through the first week of October, any given location can experience up to three thunderstorm events per day.
Unfortunately I see a higher frequency of
lightning strikes being on a hill.
Check out the yearly average flash density of lightning per
km2. The red and yellow colors represents the lightning strike bull's eye of the
western hemisphere.
Because of the danger I use the Strike Alert
Personal Lightning Detector. It's is the size of a pager and can be clipped to
your pants. It tells you how close lightning is and if it's moving in your direction.
In my opinion no weather enthusiast, sports enthusiast or ham radio operator
should be without one.
A massive positive polarity lightning bolt
taken recently in Australia
PENINSULA FLORIDA RIDGES AND HIGHLANDS CLICK TO ENLARGE
My weather station location is in one of the warmer areas on the inland central peninsula. The location is suburban and on the
south side fringe of the very large Lakeland metro area urban heat island, up on the
Lakeland Ridge (see map above) and approximately 1/4 mile west to 1/3 of a mile south of
Scott Lake. This location is on the
west slope of the Lakeland Ridge that tops out at 260 feet AMSL. The part of the
Lakeland Ridge that I live on is really more like a plateau that gently slopes
downward to my northwest, west and south with a sharp drop on the north and east side.
By the way my hand held GPS receiver says
that the ridge tops out at 280 feet not 266 feet AMSL and my weather station
location 238 feet not 218 feet AMSL. My Kestrel 3500 digital altimeter
says 222 feet. Which is accurate an old USGS topographic
map or modern GPS or altimeter unit?! To further complicate matters there is an
error on the topographical map. It shows a second area to my NNE at 230 or more
feet when that location is actually on a slope well under 230 feet.
Several microclimates exist on and adjacent to my
property. My property is approximately 1/3 acre in size, of which the Davis
Vantage Pro2 weather station sits on the SW corner at an elevation of 216 feet ASL
with the house sitting at 218 feet. The land elevation approximately 100 yards north and south of my property
is approximately 2 feet higher. To the west of my property is an approximate 5 acre open meadow that sits
approximately 5 feet lower and to my east a natural drainage corridor that once
led to Scott Lake but has been altered into a closed pond that sit's
approximately 3 feet lower. The property is wooded with five oak trees and one
cherry laurel tree,
with the only clear spot being on the SW corner where the weather station is
located.
During night time under radiational cooling
conditions (clear sky, calm wind, low dewpoint) my weather station location runs approximately 5 degrees warmer than
the surrounding region lowlands which are 100-150 feet lower. Basically the wind
almost never stops blowing here on the hill at night time due to a Katabatic (down sloping)
wind flow. The low spot's on
the west and east side of my property have their own microclimates and run
approximately 4 to 8 degrees colder when dry than my weather station location. The
cluster of oak trees run approximately 5 degrees warmer than my weather station location
but as I recently trimmed them all back dramatically the difference should be
smaller during the next winter season.
As an example as follows are area minimum temperatures
for early Wednesday morning February 7, 2007 under radiational cooling conditions.
44 deg. 218 ft My Location CWOP #AR692/KN4LF 5.7 miles South Lakeland Suburban
41 deg. 180 ft NWS CWOP #C5838 Providence North Lakeland Suburban
42 deg. 142 ft COOP NW Plant City Urban
41 deg. 141 ft FAA SW Lakeland Linder Regional Airport Urban
38 deg. 140 ft CWOP #C6582 Kathleen NW Lakeland Suburban
40 deg. 135 ft IFAS FAWN Balm Rural
39 deg. 128 ft ASOS FAA Bartow Municipal Airport Suburban
40 deg. 128 ft NWS CWOP #CW4013/KI4EFL East Plant City Rural
42 deg. 125 ft NWS CWOP #AP566/KQ4KX SE Lakeland Suburban
38 deg. 121 ft NWS CWOP #AS291/WC4PRM-9 Polk City NE Lakeland Rural
42 deg. 120 ft KFLLAKEL6 FDOF 5.8 miles South Lakeland Urban
40 deg. 069 ft IFAS FAWN Dover Rural
37 deg. 059 ft NWS CWOP #CW2979 Valrico Suburban
41 deg. 023 ft FAA Vandenberg Airport East Tampa
Suburban
During cold air advection conditions at both day
and night my weather station location temperature runs approximately 1-2 degrees
colder than the surrounding lowlands depending on the steepness of the lapse
rate. Being on an exposed ridge approximately 100-150 feet higher than the
surrounding lowlands average wind speed is approximately 20% higher.
As an example as follows are area maximum wind
gusts for Saturday June 2, 2007 as T.S. Barry traversed the region.
45 mph 218 ft My Location CWOP #AR692/NZ4O 5.7 miles South Lakeland
31 mph 154 ft ASOS FAA Plant City Municipal Airport
35 mph 141 ft FAA SW Lakeland Linder Regional Airport
36 mph 136 ft NWS CWOP #CW7718 Lakeland Linder Airport 39 mph 128 ft ASOS FAA Bartow Municipal Airport
33 mph 128 ft NWS CWOP #CW4013/KI4EFL East Plant City
28 mph 125 ft NWS CWOP #AP566/KQ4KX SE Lakeland 35 mph 144 ft ASOS FAA Winter Haven Gilbert
Airport
During cold air advection conditions when
the wind direction is from the N-NE at both day and night my weather station
location dewpoint runs approximately 5 degrees higher than the surrounding
lowlands. This is due to being on the down wind side of Scott Lake.
I also see a bit of an enhanced Anabatic (up
sloping) wind flow at daytime primarily from the NNE-SE. During summer time
quite frequently a cumulus or cumulus congestus cloud will form over the
Lakeland Highlands (my location) part of the Lakeland Ridge.
Check out the WFLA Doppler radar image below. If you look due SSE of the word Lakeland and NNW of
the word Bartow you will see what looks like a blue and orange speck. It is a
lone cumulus cloud that formed over the highest part (266 feet) of the Lakeland
Ridge.
LAKELAND, FL, USA
WEATHER OBSERVATIONS AT SCOTT LAKE IN THE LAKELAND HIGHLANDS
Weather observations collected by a Davis Vantage Pro2 weather station with fan aspirated temperature/humidity shelter and wireless anemometer/wind vane
kits
DAILY CLIMATOLOGICAL WEATHER OBSERVATIONS
5.7 MILES SOUTH OF LAKELAND FLORIDA
AT
SCOTT LAKE
IN THE LAKELAND HIGHLANDS
REGION
27.95730 N 81.94637 W
27 DEG 57 MIN 26 SEC N 81 DEG 56 MIN 47 SEC W
ELEVATION 216 FT AMSL
TEMPERATURE AT 5 FT
RELATIVE HUMIDITY AT 5 FT
PRECIPITATION AT 5 FT
WIND SPEED & DIRECTION AT 30 FT
BAROMETRIC PRESSURE REDUCED TO SEA LEVEL
(CWOP) Citizens Weather Observer Program ID #AR692/NZ4O
CoCoRaHS Rainfall Network ID #FL-PK-18
Weather Station #1-
Davis Vantage Pro2 With Fan Aspirated Temperature/Humidity Shelter,
Wireless Wind Vane/Anemometer
Weather Station #2-
Oregon Scientific RMR603HGA Wireless Temperature/Humidity,
Davis Vantage Vue Barometer, Airguide Aneroid Barometer, NWS
Approved CoCoRaHs 11" Manual Rain Gauge, Lacrosse Digital Wind Vane/Anemometer
MAN INDUCED CLIMATE CHANGE (GLOBAL WARMING) REFUTED
SUBSCRIBE TO COL LF/MF/HF/VHF FREQUENCY RADIOWAVE
PROPAGATION EMAIL REFLECTOR
