Hi, all:
It was a little breezy today, but the wind was pretty much right down the runway. We flew nine 9 flights. Warren P., John H., Lexi H., Bryan T., Jacob M., Rich M., HannaH M., plus a gift certificate ride from Wisner all flew with Steve R. today. Dave L. flew a solo flight. Frank did the towing.
Of note was that there were ‘wave’ conditions today, which is very rare. Steve’s note to Bob C, our resident meterologist:
We had some very unusual and interesting soaring conditions today. On the ground wind was directly down 130 -150 at 15-20 knots. At altitude it was more like 30-40 knots at 180.
But…what was interesting is that at 4000 msl with the nose pointed south, we were in dead calm, glassy smooth, neither going up or down (and stationary over the ground). Seemed like we could have stayed there much longer than we did (as we headed down to make the half hour limit). We had some chirps on the vario going up, but never sustained, yet we were able to remain at 4000′.
Could that have been some sort of wave? Even if it wasn’t, it was very, very unusual. We had those conditions for less than 2 hours.
Bob C’s reply to Steve:
Yes, you were probably in wave. I saw the smooth wave clouds over the area today and was wondering what you were getting. There was a strong inversion on the sounding today at around 5000′ msl. That is needed for a wave to be there. Wave air is very smooth – so smooth you can let go of the controls. I encountered similar conditions years ago. On that day I was at cloud base at 6000′ in strong winds. I headed up-wind of the cumulus cloud and noticed I was climbing at 200′ per minute in silky-smooth air. I climbed slowly up to 9000′, 3000′ above the clouds. An article appeared in ‘Soaring’ magazine for the same event over Minnesota. I will see if I can dig it up. I wish I would have been there.
Thanks all. Have a great week.
Tom
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