Decoding EXT Reports

Basically, if you can read a MOS report, you can read an EXT report. Here's a sample, for the same time and station as the FOUS report decoded earlier. The output should be similar but not identical, since NCEP produces FOUS from the original grids and we produce EXT from the coarser grids that get transmitted.

Station: BOS     Lat:42.37  Lon: -71.03  Elev:   6  Closest grid point: 23.7 km.

Initialization Time: 96-10-30 1200 UTC

PARAMETER/TIME         000    006    012    018    024    030    036    042    048

------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------

  DAY / HOUR         30/12  30/18  31/00  31/06  31/12  31/18  01/00  01/06  01/12

------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------

TEMPS

  2 M (F)               39     50     53     51     47     49     44     40     37

  850 MB (C)             4      4     10      4     -1     -1     -1     -3     -4

  700 MB (C)             3      2     -1      1      0     -1     -3     -6     -6

  500 MB (C)           -11    -14    -13    -14    -17    -17    -16    -18    -19

  1000-500 THCK        556    556           555    549    548    547    542    540

MOISTURE

  2 M DEW POINT (F)     33     45     52     50     44     39     39     35

  850 MB DP(C)/RH   -13/27   1/84   9/92  -1/72  -8/58 -17/29 -17/29 -14/43 -14/45

  700 MB DP(C)/RH     2/92   2/97  -6/70 -28/09 -20/20 -22/19 -12/49 -12/61 -12/64

  500 MB DP(C)/RH   -22/40 -16/80 -41/07 -38/12 -30/32 -29/33 -23/53 -22/73 -23/75

  PRCPABLE WTR (IN)   0.76   1.08   0.96   0.52   0.42   0.36   0.46   0.46   0.45

  CONV PRECIP (IN)           0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00

  TOTAL PRECIP (IN)          0.00   0.08   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00   0.00

WIND DD/FFF (Kts)

  10 M              15/007 16/015 20/015 28/017 28/015 28/013 25/012 26/012

  850 MB            26/016 21/040 25/052 30/039 31/034 30/030 28/031 27/036 27/038

  700 MB            28/035 25/050 24/046 28/044 28/054 28/049 27/051 26/061 26/066

  500 MB            29/055 26/067 25/062 27/062 27/066 28/073 26/081 26/091 26/101

  250 MB            28/065 26/095 27/083 27/085 27/109 28/116 27/111 27/137 27/154

VERTICAL VEL (uB/S)

  850 MB                -3     20     22    -47    -40    -33    -19    -24    -15

  700 MB                 9     39      9    -18    -11    -22      2     -3      2

  500 MB                29     25     25     -6     -2    -13      9      8      9

CONVECTION PARAMS

  LIFT INX SFC          26     16      8     11     13     16     18     18     19

  LIFT INX 4LYR         18      9      2     11     13     16     18     18     17

  CAPE SFC               6      1     22      4     43            -5     -4

  CAPE 4LYR              7     14     87    -13     -2      3      9    -13

  CIN SFC                0     -1    -22    -10    -13      0      0      0

  CIN 4LYR              -1     -1    -16     -1     -8     -1     -2      0

  HELICITY (0-3 KM)    240    701    443     64     26     57     75    215

Here's a little help with some of the more obscure variable types. The 2 M temperature is the temperature 2 meters above the ground, at standard thermometer height. Similarly, the 10 M wind is the wind at standard anemometer height. The precipitable water is the amount of rain that would fall if all the water vapor in the air above the station were to be condensed out. It's a measure of the total amount of moisture in the air, and is NOT the maximum possible precipitation amount. Finally, you can ignore most of the convection parameters until you're older, really bored, or serious about forecasting severe weather.

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