An Investigation of Clouds and Precipitation for the Texas High Plains Page: 58
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58
highest correlation during the fall is with stratiform clouds in conjunction
with cyclonic activity. Cumulonimbus clouds are still preva~.ent, however,
especially in the Midland area, where cumulonimbus had the highest coefficient
in the fall.
D. Precipitable Water Vapor
It is obvious that precipitation must be a function of the amount of
water contained in the atmosphere. One measure of atmospheric water content
is "precipitable water". By definition, precipitable water vapor is the depth
of water that would be accumulated on a flat, level surface of unit area if
all of the water vapor in a column of the atmosphere were condensed and
precipitated. Thus, the precipitable water vapor in a column of air may be
expressed as the total mass, Pv , of water per unit area in the column. Thus,
rz 2 P2 pv
Pv - v J vgp
z p
zvJ Pv6 r P
where p is the density of the air, pv the density of the water vapor, p is atmos-
pheric pressure and g is the acceleration of gravity. Since specific humidity,
q, is defined as the ratio of the density of water vapor to the density of moist
air, the above relationship may be expressed as
1 2 12
v=- g f q6p - gJ m6p
where m is the mixing ratio, defined as the ratio of the density of water vapor
to the density of dry air.
In practice, the formula used in calculating precipitable water from
an actual atmospheric sounding is
P i Ap
vi g
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Haragan, Donald R. An Investigation of Clouds and Precipitation for the Texas High Plains, report, March 1970; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth839452/m1/70/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.