Flight Level???

[UnAnswerd]

How high up into the atmosphere untill there is simply no weather, no clouds, nothing but air???

 

[CapnVegetto]

That would be outer space.

 

[Metro752]

The exxonosphere or mobiloshpere

 

[UnAnswerd]

That would be outer space.

I wasn't aware there was air in outer space...

 

[RightPedal]

I was told only those with PFT type ratings could go up there. I think you can get there with some of them Burt Rutan sideburns though.

 

[Occam's Razor]

Our weather - with some occasional "excursions"- occurs in the troposphere. The top of the trope varies depending on temp and a couple of other factors, from about 31K' to about 45K'. You know you're in the trope because temps tend to decrease as you get higher.

When that stops, you're getting in to the stratosphere. There is still "air" up there (sheesh!), but now the temps increase as you get higher.

Some weather can bust the trope, with enough energy, but it's not the rule.

That's your free one. From here on out you should use this cool new thing called the "internet".

Blue skies!

 

[gkrangers]

The highest cloud tops you are ever going to see can peak as high as 65,000 feet...but very rare, and only in supercell thunderstorms.

 

[UnAnswerd]

Thank you.

 

[JohnnyCash]

i have cool sideburns too.

johnny
live from 1974

 

[nathotel]

http://www.meteo.helsinki.fi/~tpnousia/nlcgal/nlcinfo.html

 

[KigAir]

That's your free one. From here on out you should use this cool new thing called the "internet".

He did.

 

[Occam's Razor]

He did.

By golly! You're right! He did use the internet!

I was thinking of looking up a mortage rate payment calculator...go I clicked on GigetGoesAnal.com to see if anybody there could type-up a PITI table for me.

Going directly to RateTables.com would've have been less interesting...

​

Sorry about being too general.

How's this: Maybe going to web site that has meteorology tutorials would be a good place to do some research on it, instead of asking the peanut gallery on this Forum. In this case, you happened to get a response from a pilot with a degree in Meteorology...but you never really know WHO is giving you the info on an Forum like this. Best to use a site with references.

See? Peace in our time!

 

[CapnVegetto]

I wasn't aware there was air in outer space...

Sure there is.....astronaut farts.

 

[ATCER]

UnAnswered - I've had A/C as high as FL470 deviate around weather... that's good size wx. Average wx you'll see A/C FL410 and above top it. I work the hurricane hunter A/C, both NOAA and TEAL (USAF), they pass along sigmet info for ATC, often those storms have tops in the 50K foot range and higher.

 

[garf12]

http://www.meteo.helsinki.fi/~tpnousia/nlcgal/nlcinfo.html

Thats cool, do a google image search for Noctilucent Clouds, some pretty cool pictures.

 

[banned username 2]

Take a look at the Radar Summary chart (http://www.intellicast.com/Local/USNationalWide.asp?loc=usa&seg=LocalWeather&prodgrp=SevereWeather&product=RadarSummary&prodnav=none), during thunderstorm season it is easy to find MANY storms with Precipitation Tops at FL600, remember that is precip top, cloud top can be 5,000+ ft higher...

I've been at FL470 several times and still had cloud tops well above me!

 

[mar]

Check my theory

You know you're in the trope because temps tend to decrease as you get higher.

When that stops, you're getting in to the stratosphere. There is still "air" up there (sheesh!), but now the temps increase as you get higher.

It's been a few years since my Met class with the very odd Dr. John Holley (anyone else?).

But let's clarify:

Troposphere: Decreasing temps.
Tropopause: Constant temp.
And *then* the Stratosphere.

The height of the troposphere is mostly determined by latitude. It's quite low (30,000') in the north and quite high (40,000') around the equator.

 

[moxiepilot]

Falcon Cap - thanks for the new wx link - always looking for good sites out there

 

[typhoonpilot]

It's been a few years since my Met class with the very odd Dr. John Holley (anyone else?).

But let's clarify:

Troposphere: Decreasing temps.
Tropopause: Constant temp.
And *then* the Stratosphere.

The height of the troposphere is mostly determined by latitude. It's quite low (30,000') in the north and quite high (40,000') around the equator.

You beat me to it Mike.

The Tropopause is a thin layer forming the boundary between the Troposphere and Stratosphere. The height of the Tropopause varies from 65,000 ft. over the Equator to 20,000 ft. or lower over the poles. Temperature tends to remain constant or increase slightly as you go higher in the Tropopause.

TP

 

[mar]

More trivia

The height of the Tropopause varies from 65,000 ft. over the Equator to 20,000 ft. or lower over the poles.

Do I remember correctly that this difference is due to the centrifugal force from the rotation of Earth...or is that just a silly mnemonic that I conjured up to help me remember that it's thicker near the equator?

Anyway, I also seem to recall that if Earth was the size of an apple the entire atmosphere would only be as thick as the skin of the apple.

I was thinking about Unanswered original question: Where do you stop finding air? And I think that for all practical intents and purposes Outer Space is generally considered to be 100 miles up.

But, yeah, 99% of the weather is found in the troposphere.