Sept 23, 2003: I find that the soundings on the FSL sounding forecast webpage often do not agree with the BLIPSPOT data. I thought that BLIPSPOTs were based on the FSL RUC forecasts?
DrJack sez: Both the BLIPs and the FSL sounding webpage do use data from the same model, but BLIPs will often differ from the data plotted/output by the FSL sounding webpage because that data has been degraded in two ways. First, the FSL webpage soundings are only available for a 40km-spaced subsample of the full 20km-resolution grid – so there is a 75% probability that any profile viewed is not at the exact location used by a BLIPSPOT (or a grid point used for the BLIPMAP contours). For example, when trying to view the sounding corresponding to the Hendersonville NC BLIPSPOT, using the link on the BLIPSPOT page, you will see that the line immediately above the plot reads “15.2nm/50° from 35.432,-82.419”, where the last lat/long is that of the actual 20km grid point used for the BLIPSPOT. Where there is significant terrain or meteorological variation between grid points this can produce plotted soundings which significantly differ from the actual forecast soundings at the 20km grid poi
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