summation principle

summation principle

[sə′mā·shən ‚prin·sə·pəl] (meteorology) In United States weather observing practice, the rule which governs the assignment of sky cover amount to any layer of cloud or obscuring phenomenon, and to the total sky cover; in essence, this principle states that the sky cover at any level is equal to the summation of the sky cover of the lowest layer plus the additional sky cover provided at all successively higher layers up to and including the layer in question; thus, no layer can be assigned a sky cover less than a lower layer, and no sky cover can be greater than 1.0 (10/10).