Feb 11, 2003: Is there a way to estimate how much BL height difference a change in surface elevation will produce?
DrJack sez: I have a theoretical way of estimating the effect of surface elevation differences, but it is as yet untested. Assuming a mt. peak lies within a BLIPMAP grid point, a simple way of estimating the BL top _increase_ there would be to multiply the difference in altitude between the peak and the model grid elevation in feet by 0.00033 degF/ft and then multiply that by the TI height variability in feet divided by 4 degF. Not exactly the same as would be obtained by a BLIPMAP prediction, but should be in the ballpark.