THERMAL INDEX REPORT
for Mountain Valley Airport

Note: This is an experimental service based upon the Thermal Index Report Generator provided by Kevin Ford of Texas A & M University. The Thermal Index provides an indication of thermal lift probability. Negative thermal lift values indicate conditions likely to cause thermal lift. (Unfortunately, the magnitude of the thermal index does not necessarily indicate the strength of the thermal lift.) The basic method is described on page 4-6 of the Soaring Flight Manual (1996 printing). This report uses balloon sounding tenperature-altitude data from Vandenberg Air Force Base or Miramar NAS (whichever is available) and the forecast maximum temperature for Tehachapi. The Tehachapi weather forecast can be found at http://tehachapi.com/weather. (Kevin Ford corrects sounding data to achieve a "virtual temperature" which is substituted for the the actual temperature used in the Flight Manual. The difference between these temperature types is not great). For more information concerning Kevin Ford's method the reader is referred to http://csrp.tamu.edu/soar/README.html.

For reference purposes, forecasts and actual thermal lift conditions are compiled at the bottom of this page. If a reasonable correlation is found to exist, this report will be continued.

TODAY'S REPORT (Oakland averaged with Miramar)

HISTORY