The final day of forecast activities for week 4 didn’t see much change geographically, with groups operating in the Boulder, Goodland, and Hastings CWA’s. The Goodland group would later move to Dodge City as activity to the south looked a little more promising. Once again, the Boulder group found the PGLM total lightning Flash Extent Density and Lightning Jump information to be quite valuable in monitoring fluctuations in storm/updraft intensity. One particularly strong storm near Simla, CO produced a tornado from which we were able to view live streaming footage (see image below). Activity in the other CWA’s, was a little slow to develop, giving participants ample time to evaluate the pre-convective products.

– Bill Line, SPC/HWT Satellite Liaison and Week 4 EWP Coordinator

Today’s activities took us to Cheyenne, Boulder, and Jacksonville, with the Cheyenne group moving to Topeka before ending in Dodge City. The PGLM total lightning Flash Extent Density within the Colorado LMA in NE Colorado saw heavy use with storms that developed in the Boulder CWA. It was nice to have a group operate in the Jacksonville today as it allows us to demonstrate the tools in a different region of the US. This is important considering most of the experiment has been spent west of the Mississippi River thus far. This group, however, did not have access to the 1-min imagery, something they missed dearly! The Boulder group found it helpful to monitor the LAP PWAT products as  moisture quickly approached the front range from the east, tightening the moisture gradient leading up to convective initiation. The approaching feature was also apparent in the 1-min imagery. The NUCAPS, CI, ProbSevere and ENI Lightning products all saw use throughout the day as well.

– Bill Line, SPC/HWT Satellite Liaison and Week 4 EWP Coordinator

Today’s operations were in the Norman, Amarillo and Lubbock CWA’s. Compared to yesterday, it was a much quieter day, and convection took a little longer to get going. This allowed forecasters more opportunity to evaluate environmental analysis tools such as the GOES-R LAP algorithm and JPSS NUCAPS soundings. The GOES-R CI algorithm was also utilized by participants in the pre-convective environment. The Lubbock pair had the opportunity to evaluate the PGLM total lightning, especially late in the day when convective activity amped up in intensity and coverage. With the Frederick, OK radar down for most of the day, the Norman group had increased reliance on the Earth Networks lightning tools.

Tomorrow we will have our weekly debrief, and participants will complete their end of the week surveys and present the Tales from the Testbed webinar.

– Bill Line, SPC/HWT Satellite Liaison and Week 1 EWP Coordinator

Convective activity began today earlier than was expected across the southern Great Plains. We placed groups in CWA’s where the greatest severe threat was expected for the day: Norman, Wichita, and Hastings. As convection was already ongoing when we began operations, attention was focused on warning activities from the start, with the Earth Networks lightning products, Lightning Jump, and ProbSevere Model having a lot of utility.

Tomorrow, we will start activities at 12:00 pm in the Dev Lab for the daily debrief before moving to the HWT for the EFP briefing. Activities will likely shift back to West Texas.

– Bill Line, SPC/HWT Satellite Liaison and Week 1 EWP Coordinator

Today marked the first day of the EWP Spring Experiment in the Hazardous Weather Testbed in Norman, OK. This year, 5 NWS forecasters and 1 broadcast meteorologist will evaluate various GOES-R and JPSS algorithms, as well as Earth Networks total lightning products. Participants, working in pairs, will use the experimental products to issue area forecast discussions and severe thunderstorm/tornado warnings for their designated CWA. All of the products being demonstrated are available in AWIPS-II.

Much of the focus for the first day of the week was hands-on training for each of the products under evaluation. After some initial familiarization with AWIPS-II and procedure building, the various PI’s worked with forecasters on how to interpret the products, and what to look for during the week. Forecasters also became familiar with saving images, and posting to the blog. By the end of the day, participants had already made several informative blog posts.

We began today’s operations in the Topeka, Omaha, and Midland CWA’s. As activity subsided in the Omaha CWA, that pair moved operations to the Wichita CWA. Participants were able to utilize all of the products today, including the PGLM total lightning from the West Texas LMA.

Tomorrow, we will start activities at 12:00 pm in the Dev Lab for the daily debrief before moving to the HWT for the 12:45 EFP briefing. Operations will likely take place in West Texas.

– Bill Line, SPC/HWT Satellite Liaison and Week 1 EWP Coordinator