WHAT IS A METEOGRAM?

A meteogram is a visual representation of surface weather conditions in a graphical format. The meteograms displayed here at the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture Weather Page represent the surface weather conditions at various weather sites for a given day. These meteograms begin with 00 UTC and continue through the present hour. The graphs have 5 frames that depict various weather parameters.

The following is a brief explanation of the various frames in the meteograms produced here at UK.

FRAME 1:

This is a time plot of temperatures and dewpoint values in degrees Fahrenheit. Temperature values are plotted in red while dewpoint values are in blue.

FRAME 2:

This second frame contains the plot of mean sea level pressure measured in millibars.

FRAME 3:

Wind information can be found in the third frame. Wind barbs are located along the center axis of the frame indicating wind speed and direction. Wind speeds are given in knots and wind direction is the direction from which the wind blows. Wind gusts will also be plotted in this frame when they occur. Gusts will be identified with a "G" along with a scale indicating the gust speed.

FRAME 4:

This frame displays the visibility for the given location. Visibility is measured in statute miles. In addition, present weather symbols can be found in this frame when appropriate. You can see what the symbols stand for in the Map Legend Chart

FRAME 5:

This frame depicts the sky cover and cloud height. Along the bottom of the frame you will find a circle that will be shaded to reflect the reported cloud coverage for the station. Cloud coverage is reported in eighths and the circle is filled in quarters. In addition to the cloud coverage, a trace also indicates the height of the clouds in hundreds of feet. This is not the ceiling height but the height of the cloud layer that is covering most of the sky. When skies are clear or clouds are not detected by automated equipment, this trace will indicate 0 or 1 as the height of the clouds.

Further explanation concerning weather parameters can be found in the section titled Learning About Meteorology

Ag Weather Center, Department of Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering, University of Kentucky