Updraft: June 30, 2009 Archive

Two satellites are better than one

Posted at 7:16 AM on June 30, 2009 by Craig Edwards

While it might feel more like a fall day, this image is just an example of the water vapor image for a NOAA eye in the sky called GOES. This geostationary satellite is invaluable to monitoring developing weather, especially critical for tropical storm formation.

On Saturday NOAA and NASA successfully launched GOES O. This satellite will be prepared to take over if one of the other GOES fails. Since these satellite travels in sequence with the earths rotation we can animate the imagery.

One GOES monitors the Pacific region and one the Atlantic. There was a time when I worked for NOAA that we did not have a spare ready in place and were required to reposition the east monitoring GOES towards the central part of the northern hemisphere to get a view of the Pacific during hurricance season.

NASA press release on the latest GOES launch

Always nice to have a spare.

I want my summer back.

CE

Quiet in the Tropics

Posted at 4:01 PM on June 30, 2009 by Craig Edwards

Closing out the month of June, the first meteorological month of summer and the start of the hurricane season, things are pretty quiet around most of the country. However, the Sunshine State continues to be bathed in showers and thunderstorms. Heavy rain once again soaks the northeast US.

Once again the Twin Cities will come up short in the precipitation department this month. The latest drought update will be released on Wednesday. During the growing season we would like to receive about an inch of moisture a week. We are woefully short of that expectation.

Here is the latest from the Tropical Storm Prediction Center.

More seasonal temperatures are seen for the 4th of July weekend. Bouts of widespread thunderstorms look unlikely at this time.

CE