The Panda Ceremony was held at the Jackson, MS Zoo on the evening of Wednesday, Jun 14, 2023.  Strong to severe storms were forecast throughout the afternoon and evening hours and the event coordinator requested DSS for lightning and any severe weather with as much lead time as possible.  Using the 14.16z initialization of the PHS reflectivity was useful in providing some timing details to the event coordinator (See Figure 1). It suggested a fairly robust storm to roll through the Jackson area by around 00z with the forecast reflectivity ranging from 50-65 dBz directly over the event site.  

The reflectivity forecast did well with depicting a fairly large storm to move across southern Mississippi but was a bit too north on the location.  Overall, the product was very useful in boosting the forecaster’s confidence in the convection timing to impact the event. See Figure 4 for a look a the verification.

Figure 1: Loop of the 14.16z PHS layer reflectivity had a large storm over Jackson, MS, and impact the event (black range ring) by 00z.

Figure 2: A DSS Graphic was issued shortly after 3 p.m. to highlight the timing and potential impacts of the Panda Ceremony.  The original image had the animated GIF above with the PHS reflectivity forecast.

Figure 3: This was the first of 3 graphics created for the event and this graphic highlighted the severe weather threat and timing.  Overlaid is the MRMS reflectivity greater than 35 dBz and OCTANE Winds.

Figure 4:  A loop of MRMS with ProbSevere and LightningCast shows some verification of the PHS reflectivity forecast shown above. This loop ends at 2232z.   

– Podium