That describes the height in dekameters, or tens of meters, that the halfway point of the atmosphere’s mass is above the surface. When air warms, it expands. When it cools, a volume of air shrinks. An air mass this hot expands a lot, causing a column of air to grow and raising the atmosphere’s halfway point. With this particular system, that level is 5,980 meters — or about 19,000 feet — above the surface. Elsewhere across the western United States, the number will be higher, at or above 6,000 meters, or about 19,700 feet, above the surface.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/09/04/california-heat-wave-fires/
Comments