Tuesday 2/24

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Tuesday 2/24

Postby sd » Tue Feb 24, 2015 7:21 am

2 PM Post Mortem

Well it finally blocked, switching on-shore at the Montecito Reporting Station sometime after 11. It continued to dribble over the back along the ridge with La Cumbre Peak reporting 4-6 from the NE at 2 PM, aad perhaps a touch stronger toward noon. I don't think anyone waited long enough for the block. Eric was on the mountain overnight but he came down midday.

Bates was light but the direction was good again with pilots flying from the upper launch to the west side of the trees by the east facing launch and back. I suspect Wilcox worked also?
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Midday Update (12:15)

The NE is persistently stubborn and is still gusting to 11 along the ridge at a quarter past noon. It is starting to back down and may still block, but the lapse rate isn't as good as it was earlier today. I suspect no flights to Fillmore due to the late launch times, but if it backs off in the next hour you might be able to reach Carpinteria. It's currently SE along the coast but the buoys are from the WNW.
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Tuesday Morning Update (7 AM)

Tuesday looks like a good day for soaring in and from Santa Barbara, but not as stellar as Monday. Pilots should be able to reach Fillmore or Piru.

The lapse rate continues to be strong below 4500 in SB, 6K in Ojai, and 5K in Fillmore, but there is a mild morning surface inversion that needs to break plus some north wind at ridgeline and above that needs to block. Monday was soarable by 9ish?, but Tuesday will light off a bit later, perhaps 10:30 or 11. The later start is more attributed to the need to block the north wind than the lapse rate so keep an eye on the wind meter and head up when it starts backing down.

Not much of an upper capping inversion early, but a pronounced inversion around 4500 forms later today, which is good and bad. Bad because the lift won't tower like it did on Monday, but good because it offers protection from the stronger north wind above. It's blowing well over 100 knots up at airliner altitude.

The lapse rate will fade through at least Thursday, but it still looks strong in Santa Barbara on Tuesday. Monday had light flow from the west at altitude, but Tuesday has some flow from the north. Not sure why it should warm up with north flow? Monday's freezing level was about 6K, rising a little during the day. The 6K temperature on Tuesday starts out at a respectable 5C but climbs to 8C by midday and 12C by Wednesday morning.

I didn't fly on Monday, but I suspect the lift was sweet in the shade under the towering cumulus clouds. Tuesday will likely have more punch and some sheer turb at the top of the thermals.

Tuesday looks way better than either Wednesday or Thursday, so if you have a choice...

I'll be listening and watching from my desk window in Carpinteria again.
Last edited by sd on Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Tueaday 2/24 ? ?

Postby Aaron » Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:07 am

eagle henzi sent a rare deep one yesterday going OTB from monticito peak area and landing near the 166/I-5 just short of bakersfield. not sure how high he was getting, but cant wait for details. from his SPOT track it looks like he dove deep west of SD's convergence line flight last year, and then went deep again when he was just west of Pine Mountain by splitting the 33 and Lockwood Valley road over more roadless terrain. amazing wilderness route, probably about 50 miles the hard hard way! nice flying henzi! hope you arent still hitchhiking home.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... Bl44UXvdoG
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