# lcl¶

metpy.calc.lcl(pressure, temperature, dewpoint, max_iters=50, eps=1e-05)[source]

Calculate the lifted condensation level (LCL) using from the starting point.

The starting state for the parcel is defined by temperature, dewpoint, and pressure. If these are arrays, this function will return a LCL for every index. This function does work with surface grids as a result.

Parameters
Returns

Other Parameters
• max_iters (int, optional) – The maximum number of iterations to use in calculation, defaults to 50.

• eps (float, optional) – The desired relative error in the calculated value, defaults to 1e-5.

Notes

This function is implemented using an iterative approach to solve for the LCL. The basic algorithm is:

1. Find the dewpoint from the LCL pressure and starting mixing ratio

2. Find the LCL pressure from the starting temperature and dewpoint

3. Iterate until convergence

The function is guaranteed to finish by virtue of the max_iters counter.

Only functions on 1D profiles (not higher-dimension vertical cross sections or grids). Since this function returns scalar values when given a profile, this will return Pint Quantities even when given xarray DataArray profiles.

Changed in version 1.0: Renamed dewpt parameter to dewpoint