6/5/12 Daily Recap

A strong ridge positioned in the central U.S. kept much of the country unusually calm for the beginning of June, and limited the areas of interest for day 2 of the Summer Experiment to the deep South and the West Coast.

In the morning we tracked an ongoing area of convection over GA, FL, and the Gulf of Mexico. We were able to use the Overshooting Top and Thermal Couplet detections to pinpoint an area of intense convection over the Gulf of Mexico, and while the impact to air traffic was minimal given the limited number of flight routes over the area, it was easy to see the potential of the two algorithms in situational awareness sense.

Later in the afternoon, while keeping an eye on the deep south, we also switched our focus to the West Coast for a few hours. There were multiple reports of mountain wave turbulence reported over CA and UT, and we were able to pick up the consistent mountain wave signature on the water vapor imagery throughout the day. While we weren't able to get the simulated ABI imagery for the day due to a delayed model run, it was easy to see how using higher resolution model to identify signatures such as this will be another of the many benefits that GOES-R will bring to aviation forecasting.

Now, as we start day 3, we are crossing our fingers as it looks like we may have a slightly more interesting day of convection. Look for blog updates throughout the day as we attempt to assist in the first "official" day of issuing the AWS.