mswx//nerds Monte Sano weather ops

Lapse rate temperature drop per 1000 ft

Standard atmosphere drops ~3.5 °F per 1000 ft of elevation. Monte Sano's microclimate doesn't always obey — at night the plateau can be warmer than the valley (inversion). This page shows the actual lapse rate by hour of day, averaged over the last N hours.

How to read this

Each line is one canonical station. X-axis is local hour-of-day (0–23 Chicago time). Y-axis is the lapse rate to that station from the reference, in °F per 1000 ft elevation.

  • Below 0 (negative) = station is COOLER than reference per 1000 ft of elevation gain. Normal daytime atmosphere is around -3.5 °F/1000 ft.
  • Above 0 (positive) = inversion. Station is WARMER per 1000 ft than reference. Common overnight on Monte Sano.