Looking at 4 RGBs at the same time

For the sake of comparison, I loaded a 4-panel loop with the following RGBs: Air Mass, Differential Water Vapor, Day Cloud Phase Distinction and Simple Water Vapor. Doing so really slowed AWIPS-II down when they were loading, so if you try this, please be aware of this!

All 4 RGBs contain A LOT of useful information. A few examples:

1. When comparing the Air Mass and Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGBs, if there are no (or few) high clouds, low clouds can be distinguished fairly well, such as what can be seen in southern WI and southern MI in the image below.

2. High cloud is very easy to distinguish in both the Air Mass and Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGBs, especially when used in tandem. Even when thin, high cloud moves over an area of low clouds, both types of clouds are fairly easy to see, such as over northern IL below. Interestingly, the color schemes are a bit "different", with high cloud showing up as whiter in the Air Mass RGB, while high clouds are seen as a yellow-orange-red color scheme in the Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB. That's a bit confusing, but manageable to the discerning eye.

3. Drying in the mid- and upper-levels is also very easy to see when comparing both the Differential Water Vapor and Simple Water Vapor RGBs, such as what can be seen across the western/central Great Lakes extending SW (excluding the high cloud moving across IN/IL/IA/N MO). Certainly, if one knows where low-level boundaries and other significant storm parameters/signatures are located, one could use the Water Vapor RGBs to help forecast potential convective development as drier mid-upper level air moves over those regions. This is definitely evident over OH in the image below.

 - Thomas Bell