A met question
Ok, here's a question for you guys.
I recently read a book called The Weather Handbook, by Alan Watts. I thought it was excellent, and it improved my understanding of weather no end! But together with reading that and "Severe Weather Flying" has had a strange effect on me!
Now whenever I wake up to find a lovely morning with generally clear blue skies, little wind, I start to think. I see a few cirus clouds around, and maybe the odd lower cloud, and conclude that there must be some moisture in the athmosphere, in order for the few clouds to form.
Then I think, well if there is very little cloud, and little wind there is bound to be a lot of stong thermals in the afternoon, due to heating of the surface. This will lift the air, as the lifting air cools, the moisture will condence, and form a big CB cloud, and we'll have thunderstorms in the afternoon.
Yet that doesn't seem to happen. The odd thunder storm seems to be on days that start out with a cloud filled sky with a large amount of low level cloud.
Where am I going wrong? Am in incorrect in concluding that there is sufficient moisture in the athmosphere if there are just Cirus, and the odd lower cloud around?
Thanks for any insight!
dp