STEPS OPERATIONS JOURNAL

    Date: May 22, 2000
    Operations Director: L. Jay Miller


WEATHER FORECAST:

    Forecasters:Sven Nelaimischkies (NWS) and Morris Weisman (NCAR)

Hot and dry today, with no chance of any convection. If any small Cu should develop, it would be about 1-2 pm MDT (19-20Z). The 0 deg C height is 14.4 kft and the -10 deg C height is 19 Kft.

Hot and dry Tuesday, but a weak upper level wave and surface front along with increasing surface dewpoints may allow for some weak convection later in the day, especially along the northern portion of the STEPS domain.

Outlook for Wednesday is a continued chance for weak convection later in the afternoon.

FORECAST MATRIX

VARIABLE Day 1: 1-4 pm Day 1: 4-9 pm Day 2 Day 3
Convective
Potential
00 11
Storm Type 11 22
Triggering 00 11
Intuition -1-1 00
Total 00 44


EQUIPMENT STATUS:

SYSTEM STATUS
Ops Center Operational except for T1 connection to S-Pol. T1 connection will be looked at today.
CHILL Operational. Will do some H/V receiver gain calibrations using the sun and will also do some slow scan rate (128 samples, 1 deg/sec) ground clutter scans from 0 to 1 at steps of 0.2 deg in elevation.
S-Pol Unknown problem with coherent measurements (no velocities or any polarimetric except Zdr and Ldr). Intermittency has made it difficult to isolate the cause. T1 connection will be looked at by phone company today.
LMA Trailer near the WFO installed. All 13 sites are operational.
MGLASS Expected to be operational today, with soundings at Flagler and Goodland.
T-28 Not yet completely operational. The crew will be working on preparatory work.
Storm ballooning Not yet completely operational. The crews will be doing training.
Mobile mesonet Five vehicles have arrived, with the sixth vehicle expected Tuesday. They will be doing programming of their equipment and some training.
Storm chase van Expected to arrive today.
YRFS Operational
NWS Operational


EXPECTED OPERATIONS FOR 0522:

We will do some calibration and communication work at the radars. CHILL will do some slow scan-rate (1 deg/sec at 128 samples) ground clutter scans from 0 to 1 deg at 0.2 deg steps in elevation. All other systems will be doing basic preparations and training.


DEBRIEFING OF OPERATIONS FOR 0522:

Some shallow clouds did develop in the area by ~2pm MDT, but they produced no echo so no dry-run coordinated operations were conducted. All observing systems continued with preparatory work.