D-1: Final Day Before Operations Officially Begin

Hi All,

Not much to report from the field today - mostly just taking care of some last minute preparations and checking and double checking all the computer systems. I thought I would take a chance to post some pictures of some of the vehicles/instruments that are headed out in the field. I think they're cool, maybe you do as well? Clicking on the image *should* enlarge it.


A group of mobile surface towers with instruments like temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, pressure etc.


One of the mobile mesonet observation vehicles with the instrument rack on top. These vehicles can take measurements as they're driving around to different parts of the storm. If you get up close you can see they have some battle scars as almost every van is beat to pieces with golf ball sized hail dents in it.


Our trucks that the mobile soundings team will be using in the field. The closest two are NSSL-1, NSSL-2 (my vehicle call name), with NCAR-1 in the front and NCAR-2 behind me. We had a chance to take them out around town a bit today and people will definitely stop to stare when they recognize chase vehicles. Pretty cool.


Our storm chasing good luck charm sent over by the fine folks in the Clouds and Precipitation Processes and Patterns Group at NCSU. There's nothing a tornado loves more than a mobile home park so they sent us one to mount on our dashboard. I thought the NCSU stickers were a nice touch.


I thought this was a funny name for the cafeteria in the National Weather Center.

Day One of operations is tomorrow but the mood is pretty sour with regards to the weather. No official decisions will be made until the PI's meet at 9:15 and the general public weather briefing is held at 10:00 am. There's still a slight chance we may make a play on some storms way down in east Texas but there doesn't seem to be a consensus that it's a good idea to move the armada long distances to chase popcorn storms. Beyond tomorrow the chances look even bleaker. My guess is we should settle in and prepare to spend some quality time in Norman until Tuesday/Wednesday of next week.

Last thing - I wanted to make a quick shout-out to Nicolle Morock from whatever-weather.com. Nicolle is broadcasting my blog to all of the readers on her website who may be interested in the V2 comings and goings. If you're looking for a met job (and who isn't these days) you should check out their site.

All for now,
Casey