Potential gradient and locating conditions

[signal_line]

This is in reply to the “barometric pressure” thread.
A low gradient is better for locating.

October-March: average gradient is high.. Lowest at 4AM, highest at 7PM. Add one hour for daylight saving time.
April-September: double oscillation with lowest at 4AM and around 2 PM, highest at 8AM and 8PM. Add one hour if daylight saving time.

These are 20 year averages. Clear air is better. Haze is higher. Fog is the worst.

During rain it is mostly negative—that is the charge is going out of the earth. Thunderstorms can go from strong positive to strong negative, same with snowstorms. Plenty of other factors involved.

 

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[signal_line]

This is in reply to the “barometric pressure” thread.
A low gradient is better for locating.

October-March: average gradient to high.. Lowest at 4AM, highest at 7PM, highest 8AM and 8PM. Add one hour for daylight saving time.
April-September: double oscillation with lowest at 4AM and around 2 PM, highest at 8AM and 8PM. Add one hour if daylight saving time.

These are 20 year averages. Clear air is better. Haze is higher. Fog is the worst.

During rain it is mostly negative—that is the charge is going out of the earth. Thunderstorms can go from strong positive to strong negative, same with snowstorms. Plenty of other factors involved.

Guess I should explain the potential gradient is how much the electric charge in the air changes with altitude. Summer it is usually below 200 volts per meter and Winter it is usually above 200 v/m. I can’t give you the exact reason locating conditions are better when the gradient is low.

And I should point out the readings can be all over the place, but these are the averages.

 

[Red_desert]

We have what is called lake effect. Southern Lake Michigan water temperatures can alter weather patterns a lot. Off the SE end you get more inches of snow, for a couple counties of lower Michigan and top of Indiana.