Well, the front set up farther north than expected and so did the heavier
precipitation today. So we had a shallow front across central NY today. The
surface front was in far northern PA and the front at 5000 feet (roughly) was
actually across Lake Ontario. So north of this in Canada was the main
precipitation shield and hence no fallout conditions down here. Central NY saw
chilly conditions with northerly winds between the surface and a few thousand
feet with southwest to west winds above this. Overnight many birds were
migrating north so presumably birds that migrate higher than a few thousand
feet up kept going into southern Canada on the southwest winds and stopped
where the rain was. In reality the bird migration likely was sorted out based
on how high each species or even individuals migrate. To get a fallout we need
a solid batch of precipitation which typically has cloud tops around 10 to 20
feet which is a wall for the migrants. Since this precipitation set up farther
north than predicted is why it wasn't that impressive. However, winds between
5000 and 15000 feet were strong from the west-southwest and maybe this could be
why the western meadowlark showed up? It is also interesting that in western
NY the front was a bit deeper and could explain why Jody saw more migrants.
Anyway, always learning.
Tonight we will see south winds aloft, north winds close to the ground.
Precipitation again will be across northern NY. More arrivals will be the norm.
I think once the cold front comes through Monday with heavier rain we will see
more migrants.
Thanks and good birding to all! Dave
On Friday, April 13, 2018, 7:33:30 AM EDT, David Nicosia
<[email protected]> wrote:
Last night there was massive migration in the eastern U.S that stopped in
northern NY state where there was a rather diffuse front. Not sure if there
will be any significant concentration of migrants. This morning as of this
writing the front at the surface is across the northern counties of PA and then
drops southeast south of the Catskills. At about 5000 feet up the front is
farther north roughly from Buffalo to south of Albany but again it is not a
very sharp front yet. At about 10000 feet up the winds are from the west and
its hard to find any front. So what this means is that birds that migrate
between 5000 and 10000 feet and up probably will keep going unless they
encounter precipitation. At this point there isn't much precipitation near NY
or in the northeast U.S. Once the storm intensifies in the midwest and pulls
east, the front at all levels up to 10-15 thousand feet will sharpen up and
precipitation will spread east.
Right now it looks like the surface front will lift back north to the southern
tier of NY state today but the precipitation will stream across northern NY so
I wouldn't expect too much just arrivals and some pockets of migrants.
For tonight, the precipitation and associated front aloft shifts south and
looks to be setting up from about Buffalo to Albany and it will be raining
north of this. The surface front will actually drop south into northern PA but
it will be shallow as the precipitation will be farther north. So I would
expect best conditions across upstate NY north of the southern tier, which
includes the Finger Lakes area, and Buffalo to Albany.
Its hard enough to predict the weather so trying to predict what the birds will
do is even harder. Hopefully some of this will pan out.
Good Luck!Dave Nicosia -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and
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