Forecast discussion nomenclature question

[mrvogt]

As a hobby weather enthusiast, I often read the forecast discussions to gain more insight on the current wx situation. In the last couple of days I've been seeing the term "trowal" or "trowal axis" and am not quite sure what it means. Here it is in this morning's discussion context:

"OF CONSIDERABLE INTEREST IS 600-MB TROWAL DEVELOPING OVER ERN OK"

Also, anyone know of good web sites where I can view isentropic analysis maps?

Thanks for any info!
Michael

[Mike Deason]

TROWAL stands for "trough of warm air aloft". There's pretty good web based presentations on trowals as well as isentropic analysis at:

TROWAL Identification (Lindstrom, Bachmeier, Martin)
http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/trowal.html

Isentropic Analysis (Moore)
http://meted.ucar.edu/isen_ana/index.htm

Heavy Banded Snow (Moore)
http://meted.ucar.edu/norlat/bandedsnow/

Winter Meteorological Processes in the Atmosphere (NWS Louisville)
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/soo/docu/forcing1.htm

As for analysis maps, here's a site:

College of DuPage
http://weather.cod.edu/analysis/analysi ... ropic.html

Regards,

Mike

[mrvogt]

Great information, thanks!

Michael