Big Blue Hole
John Simon|Wilotree Park
This is what was soarcasted:
HRRR 3:
1 PM - 5,200' cloud base (55 F)
Updraft velocity - 600 fpm
B/S ratio - 10.0
TOL - 6,200'
Surface winds - E 2 mph
4000' winds - NE 4 mph
Cloud cover - 42% going to 20%
Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. West northwest wind around 5 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
We have a light wind day with cu's not going very thick. Cloud base at 6,900' at 4 PM.
Quest - 5 km
Fantasy - 1 km
Clinton - 400 m
Panolk - 3 km
Quest - 400 m
Or the reverse.
The morning started off with thick fog. We haven't had that in a while, quite a while. The fog slowly lifted but the clouds above continued to block the sky until after 11 AM.
When the clouds separated they appeared to be thin, wispy, and very fuzzy. No bottoms. The additional moisture in the air made them appear even fuzzier.
Between noon and 1:30 PM the cu's disappeared as the top of lift increased in a dry zone. It was blue all around except way to the south down by Wallaby Ranch.
Between 1:30 and 2:30 cu's built up to the south, east. and west leaving us in a huge blue hole. John Simon took off first and found a wispy to the northwest that he worked to 3,175'. That was the highest he could get during his hour long flight.
Other pilots (not our around the Green Swamp crew) went up and landed back at Wilotree Park or nearby. They have been towing the XC 101 clinic guys to 4,000'. Larry, Greg and I never took off seeing what the sky looked like.
2 topics in this article: John Simon, Wilotree Park
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