| PRIORITY |
DESCRIPTION OF PHENOMENA AND QUALIFIERS |
| 1 |
Strong convection (ranked highest-to-lowest priority):
Isolated supercell, supercell within a line, and other
a. within any dual-Doppler lobe
b. beyond 80 km, but expected to advect into
a region of coverage by two or more radars
c. within 80 km and advecting toward either research radar
d. beyond 80 km and expected to advect away
from any region of coverage by two or more radars
Observing systems: Coordination of all systems to the
extent possible. All else being equal, an electrically
active region would take precedence over one with no
or less activity. Continue with later stages if there
is evidence that the storm is developing into an MCS.
|
| 2 |
Early stages of convection (ranked highest-to-lowest priority):
a. within any dual-Doppler lobe
b. beyond 60 km, but expected to advect into
a region of coverage by two or more radars
c. within 60 km and advecting toward either research radar
d. beyond 60 km and expected to advect away
from any region of coverage by two or more radars
Observing systems: Coordination of all systems except
the T-28 to the extent possible. All else being equal,
electrically active convection would take precendence over
convection with no or less activity. Continue with later
stages if there is evidence that the convection is developing
into a supercell.
|
| 3 |
Weak convection (ranked highest-to-lowest priority):
a. within any dual-Doppler lobe
b. beyond 40 km, but expected to advect into
a region of coverage by two or more radars
c. within 40 km and advecting toward either research radar
d. beyond 40 km and expected to advect away
from any region of coverage by two or more radars
Observing systems: Coordination of radars and
mobile mesonets. |
| 4 |
Low-level boundaries (ranked highest-to-lowest priority):
a. within 30-50 km of either research radar
b. within 30-50 km of any radar
Observing systems: Coordination of radars and mobile
mesonets |
| 5 |
Nocturnal Mesoscale Convective System (MCS)
a. characterization of leading vs. trailing stratiform and anvil
regions
Observing systems: Single or coordinated radars. |
|
Continuous observations: The NMIMT lightning mapping array and NWS/GLD
WSR-88D are expected to provide continuous coverage over the STEPS domain.
|