Clouds of the Day - Tuesday, May 19, 2020

A departing upper low pressure continues to spin stratus overhead but there were some differences from the past couple of days. A few breaks in the overcast gave a fleeting view of blue sky. There also was a mixture of stratus and cumulus type clouds instead of just stratus.

Stratus, stratocumulus (dark low cloud lower center and right), and Altocumulus (upper left).

Stratocumulus (left) and stratus (upper center to lower right).

Cumulus scattered through most of this photo with Stratocumulus in the upper right.

Fragments of cumulus scattered across the photo with a small patch of stratus or altostratus just up and left of center.

Definite cumulus with stratus or altostratus upper right.

Stratus

Here is our morning weather map at 1600Z (11:00 a.m. CDT). Low overcast covers the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley west to eastern South Dakota,. Nebraska, and eastern Kansas. The low center is centered over northern Kentucky. The cloud photos above are taken from Cedar Falls, Iowa (northeast Iowa) where cloud ceilings have been less than 1,000 feet.

Practice your weather map reading skills by decoding the weather observations. To learn how use our website instructions found by clicking this link: https://www.weatherbriefing.com/observing-forms

Surface Map, Tuesday, May 19, 2020, 1600Z, Map Plotted using Digital Atmosphere, available at www.weathergraphics.com.

Here is the GOES-16 visible satellite image at 11:31 CDT this morning. A large low pressure system centered over Kentucky is meandering slowly over the Ohio Valley and spilling clouds as far west as Nebraska. The clouds shown in the photos above are part of this storm system.

GOES 16 image, USA Visible Satellite Image, 1631Z (11:31 CDT) showing Low centered over Northern Kentucky with cloud shield covering eastern and central USA. Image Courtesy of NOAA.