A component of the wind (often using Cartesian coordinates. i.e. X and Y wind vectors). Also, an arrow representing wind velocity, drawn to point in the direction of the wind and with a length proportional to wind speed.

The inaccuracy that the manufacturer permits when the unit is calibrated in the factory.

Precipitation composed of liquid water drops more than 0.5 mm in diameter, failing in relatively straight, but not necessarily vertical, paths. Compare to drizzle.

An absolute instrument developed by K. Angstrom for the measurement of direct solar radiation. The radiation receiver station consists of two identical manganin strips whose temperatures are measured by attached thermocouples. One of the strips is shaded, ...

Same as water year.

An old nautical term for mercury barometer.

A relatively small-scale, upward moving current of air.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. A regulatory office of the U.S. Department of Labor.

A radar which is used to obtain the azimuth elevation, and slant range of an airborne target.

Value of soil moisture, expressed as a percentage of the mass of dry soil, below which a plant living in the soil dies by wilting.

A unit of luminous flux. The lumen is equal to the luminous flux radiated into a unit solid angle (steradian) from a small source having a luminous intensity of one candle. An ideal source possessing an intensity of one candle in every direction would rad ...

Anemometer which measures wind speed by measuring the degree of cooling of a metal film heated by an electric current. A type of cooling-power anemometer.

A unit of pressure used principally in oceanography. One decibar (10' dynes/cm2) equals 0.1 bar. In the ocean, hydrostatic pressure in decibars very nearly equals the corresponding depth in meters.

Wind with a speed between 48 and 55 knots (55 and 63 mph), Beaufort scale number 10.

In general, solar radiation received at the earth's surface. Contracted from incoming solar radiation.

National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Central computer and communications facility of the National Weather Service; located in Washington, DC.

See wind vane.

An instrument resulting from the combination of a thermograph and a hygrograph and furnishing, on the same chart, simultaneous time recording of ambient temperature and humidity.

A device that combines several separate communications signals into one and outputs them on a single line.

The outer, solid portion of the earth: the crust of the earth.