Tight isobars, not much wind

[Let'sgoflying!]

Isn't it generally true that when the isobars are close together, there is a strong pressure gradient and we get air moving across them, modified by coriolis forces?
Explain why not much wind through central Co today. Prog chart and metar charts are within a few hours.

 

[AggieMike88]

Because its all down my way.

 

[NoHeat]

Don't know, but the isobars happen to be shown tightly spaced only where there are big mountains, and in a direction that would cause wind along the mountain range and not across it.

At first I thought the absence of high wind indications in the metar map might only reflect a lack of airport weather stations in that mountain range. But I looked at the reports from the RAW stations in the forest service land, and there are plenty of those, but they don't seem to show that much wind, either.

 

[Richard]

"No wind" where? At the SFC? At what altitude? The air movement doesn't always have to be across the land and at the surface.

 

[Richard]

...the isobars happen to be shown tightly spaced only where there are big mountains...

Those mountains don't have to be made of rock. Quite often thouse mountains may be differing air mass.

...and in a direction that would cause wind along the mountain range and not across it.

But the isobars usually connote a scale larger than that encompassed by landforms. If you have hiked in the big rocks you may have noticed that you could be in calm winds at your elevation and be observing strong winds above or below you. Or you come around a prominenece and suddenly and distinctly pass from calm to strong winds or vice versa. So, it is not only in the horizontal that wind boundaries occur.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

"No wind" where? At the SFC? At what altitude? The air movement doesn't always have to be across the land and at the surface.

we are seeing some wind aloft, 50kts in that area but all the way up it is not as strong as other parts of the country where the isobars are not nearly as tightly packed.

 

[denverpilot]

Usually that type of isobar chart means there will be ripping winds trying to funnel down out of the rocks around here.

Down in the valleys, everything will be calm, but at mountaintop level, hold on to your butt.

Tried to find an example from one of the high pass ASOS stations the State installed years ago but it's mid-winter and they've all been damaged (probably by high winds) or are otherwise broken and not reporting winds today. They've been falling into disrepair lately. Not sure why.

La Veta, Monarch, Berthoud, all broken right now.

Earlier this winter a mixed use radio facility made out of a shipping container and a small tower above Breckenridge blew over, tower and all. I'll probably be on the cleanup crew in the Spring since one of "my" repeaters was in there. Going to need a tractor or bigger to pull it upright and start damage assessment, probably.