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You Can Avoid the Rain! Weather Tips for Biking

Learn how to avoid getting soaked while biking in the rain with weather radar. Discover how radar can help you plan your rides and avoid heavy downpours.

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You Can Avoid the Rain! Weather Tips for Biking

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  1. You Can Avoid the Rain! Weather Tips for Biking

  2. There are a number of approaches to dealing with this problem

  3. Or the traditional approach…

  4. Rain Jacket, Rain Pants, Booties, etc.

  5. Another way to stay dry…

  6. But there is another approach, one that will allow you to bike on most days, even ones with rain

  7. Weather Radar! NWS Doppler Radar

  8. Weather Radar Can Change Your Biking Life • Since the National Weather Service put the Camano Island weather radar in place during the early 90s, I rarely get seriously soaked. • With a little knowledge of NW precipitation and weather radar, you can protect yourself too.

  9. Weather Radar 101 • Weather radars can see where precipitation is falling • Can also tell the intensity of the rainfall • Doppler radars can also determine the air velocity toward or away from the radar. • Radars can track storms, fronts, and other major features • An essential tool for the National Weather Service and other meteorologists.

  10. The National Weather Service has Installed Doppler Weather Radars Across the Country

  11. Reading a Radar Image • Most radar imagery has much in common. • Intensity of precipitation is color coded (units—dbZ)

  12. Reading a Radar Image • Black (while in some)-no precip • Grey and pink (5-20)…light rain…not too bad. • Dark pink to green-moderate rain (20-35) • Yellows are heavy rain (forget it) • Reds and high (don’t even think about it)

  13. Reading a Radar Image • Remember the beam can be blocked by mountains and is higher farther from the radar. • Time below is in UTC (GMT). • UTC=PDT +7 hr

  14. Important Precipitation Info • It is RARELY uniform, even on rainy days. • If you can shift you ride by 10-15 minutes you can often miss the heavy stuff. • Shift by 30-60 minutes you can usually do so.

  15. Example: 4:48 PM yesterday-Heavy rain…but waiting will be rewarded.

  16. Absolutely Dry

  17. The Best Way to Judge When You Should Go is To Use Radar Animations on the web • Available at many sites: UW, NWS and others! Humans are very good at this. • http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/loops/ • http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=ATX

  18. Another Great Site: Rainwatch

  19. Rainwatch

  20. Different Situations • After fronts go through we often have showers and sunbreaks. Radar allows you to stay in the breaks!

  21. Showers and Sun breaks

  22. The Most Difficult Situation is When a Broad Pacific Front or Storm is Over Us The Absolute Worst: Pineapple Express! Dec 3, 2007 But EVEN THEN, there were dry spots in the rain shadow and some places had less rain

  23. Where to go for that ride? • Using the weather radar…and high-resolution visible satellite imagery…can tell you where to go for bicycling…even when it is raining in most places.

  24. Puget Sound Convergence Zone

  25. Puget Sound Convergence Zone

  26. Rainshadows Rainshadow Windward Enhancement

  27. Rainshadows

  28. The end

  29. Our Computer Models (all online) Often Can Predict them Way Ahead of Time

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