Weather News & Updates

Again, it has been awhile. Let's update you on the equipment we're using.

GOES-R is in the "air" as of 11/19/16 as GOES West (going operational/ online a few days later). GOES-S (East) & GOES-W ("Central Back-Up") are on the way this year and within two years from now.

America's GFS Model is pretty much fully upgraded: T1534 (13-km horizontal "spacing"), 128 vertical levels, variable time-steps via semi-Lagrangian timing as part of a new physics pkg (better land-sea interactions, non-hydrostatic equations, etc.), and 4D-Variational-En-KF hybrid initiation. I haven't heard anything from WPC or EMC regarding when the SREF, NAM, hi-res-NAM, or MOS will be upgraded/ updated, but that should begin soon, despite a new President.

President Trump is a global climate change denier. He may have briefly said stuff that does not give you that impression but he is pro-business and in this day and age, being pro-business usually means that you are anti-worker and anti-environment. There is, however, little he can do to "stem the tide" of STEM (science, tech, engineering & math) jobs (both green private sector jobs & NOAA jobs - especially the operational (non-research) branches like the NWS) and their people Tweeting despite his gag order(s). On the other hand, there is a lot he can do to trash our environment like who he selected to the EPA and his latest executive order. Rest assured, we can do many things to combat this and it is working

• Contact your local representatives to your State & FEDERAL Senates & Houses of Representatives via visits, phones, pizza deliveries (yes, I have received that recommendation), town halls, etc.
• Adopt personal pro-green policies, which cannot be stopped by Congress or Trump.
• Vote in the next elections:
• 2017 & 2019 for local races
• 2018 Federal Congress
• 2020 Federal Congress & Presidencies
• Consider running for Congress

Anyway, enough politics. Hope this update found you well and caught you up on the big weather news stories of GOES-R and model updates. And I will re-inquire about the rest of the models.

Also, the ECMWF is updating their model by 2020 and will house it - presumably due to Brexit - in Italy instead of Reading, England.

Next blog entry will be in progress soon is nearly done: Severe Weather Parameters (details on FB - and those details are accessible via Twitter). I'll follow that with a seasonal severe weather forecast approx. two weeks later. Have a great week!