Tuesday, February 22, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. CST

This map shows select station model plots in the United States and parts of Canada, Mexico and nearby areas at 6:00 p.m. this evening. If you are practicing your decoding skills here are some samples:

Rapid City, South Dakota temperature is -5 F, dew point is -11, wind from the north at 10 mph, the pressure is 1040.6 mb and was rising but is now steady. The cloud ceiling is at 2,800 feet. Light snow is reported in southeastern Canada southwestward to Iowa. The coldest temperatures are just north of North Dakota with the warmest readings in the Gulf of Mexico to Florida in the upper 70s with low 90s in southern Texas and northeastern Mexico.

Station Model Plots this evening.

Maps plotted by Digital Atmosphere available at www.weathergraphics.com. If you are decoding the station model plots notice the continuous light snow being reported at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, La Crosse, Wisconsin, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Brainard, Minnesota. These are examples of how light snow is plotted using the station model format.

Station model plots plus fronts and pressure centers.

This is the same map as above except the fronts and centers of high and low pressure are added.

Which way is the wind blowing?

This map shows surface streamlines - which way the wind is blowing at ground level. Notice how air spirals in toward low pressure and away from high pressure. Clouds tend to form in areas where the air is flowing together (streamlines converging) and dissipate where the air flow is spreading out (diverging). Of course, that is not true 100% of the time but that is a story for another time. This map is another plot from the Digital Atmosphere software.