Friday 5 May 2017

2017 Wind Trajectories (April 1 - May 1, 2017)

THE WEEK OF MAY 1, 2017:  Wind trajectory data processing by AAFC-Saskatoon Staff began in April.  Reverse Trajectories track arriving air masses back to their point of origin while Forward Trajectories predict favourable winds expected to arrive across the Canadian Prairies for the week of May 1, 2017:

Reverse trajectories (RT)

Wind trajectories have been monitored since April 1 this year.  To date, winds have originated predominantly from the USA - Pacific Northwest (PNW).   Overall results indicate that eastern locations on the prairies have had fewer of these winds than western locations (Figure 1).  Over the last week (April 25- May 1, 2017), Lethbridge has had significantly more RT’s from the Pacific Northwest than either SK and MB sites (Figure 2).  
Figure 1. Summary of reverse trajectory wind data (PNW) for the prairies April 1-May 1, 2017.
Figure 2. Based on results for specific locations (Brandon, Saskatoon, Lethbridge), Lethbridge has had significantly more RT’s from the Pacific Northwest than SK and MB.  

Forward trajectories (FT)
Forward trajectories that were predicted to cross the prairies from the southern USA and Mexico have been limited so far. There were a few isolated days of winds from Santa Maria and Imperial Valley, CA. and from Mexicali, Mexico in mid-April.