☈H^2
@goaskascientist
Meteorologist, prof of Sky Stuff, severe weather researcher, planetarium director, photographer, nerd, cynic, NY transplant, dog person. Very fond of puns & dinosaurs. 🌪
It's gotten worse. Quickly. Cannot imagine how bad it us up in northeastern Minnesota - already coughing and eyes burning this far away in central MN.
For more context. 😬 And if you're curious as to what the AQI value is at your place, you can visit www.airnow.gov. 😷
July 4th and the atmosphere is like, "'Scuse us. Forced atmospheric storm socialization, comin' though..."
Just got an email from Netflix telling me to celebrate USA 250 with "Stars, stripes, and streaming picks," and...Yup, that captures...something, I guess???
I saw that, too, LOL, but this is what I see when it first loads, which is freaking me out a smidge.:
Here's our sounding from today's launch...Can you say "capped," boys and girls? I bet that you can!
Once you click on that, your data will appear - just scroll down to view it.
If you want the current month's data, you have to change that using the little calendar box under "Options," like so:
When you click on "Climate and Past Weather," you will be brought to a page that will allow you to make different selections of the data you want to see. For example, in this demo, I selected "Local," which brought up a list of cities and various types of weather data that is available for viewing.
Then, click on your area of interest on the US map on the main page (for example, I clicked on Central Minnesota for this demo)
It's our last day forecasting for the Special Olympics 2026 USA Games - the week has flown! Today, the students are keeping track of the quiet weather before some of them head out to the final Track and Field events to take measurements. So happy to be ending on a high weather note! 😀👍
Believe it or not, when folks find our balloons, a lot of times they've shredded, with much of it intact, still. Here's a pic of someone who "hunted down" a sonde that we launched in 2024 during the eclipse - he was so proud of his find, he sent along a picture! 😀
Jack (l) and Mallory (r) have taken command in the MOC today - for what will likely be a quiescent weather period. The work never stops, though - they're currently also forecasting for the upcoming heatwave that will likely begin this weekend. The events will be over then, but the science continues!
Day 6 and the students Eli (r), Matt (c), and Dylan (l) also launched another balloon from the other sports/athletics site. Still expecting fairly quiet conditions, but better safe than sorry. 🙂
Day 5 saw some active weather, w/ lots of CG lightning & heavy rain to end the day, but thankfully no weather-related injuries were reported. Naomi (r) and Jon (l) are at the helm in the MOC for Day 6. There will be another balloon launch today (~11 AM), but we're hoping for calmer weather today. 👍
For those interested, here is the sounding from the afternoon. (Red line = temp, green line = dew point, orange line = relative humidity. Wind barbs appear to the right.)
Students Jack (l), Jon (c), and Matt (r) had a successful balloon launch this afternoon, as well, collecting atmospheric data ahead of the approaching cold front (and thunderstorms.) We used a smaller balloon this time, so it only made it up to about 15.5 km, but it was enough for what we needed! 🎈⛈️
The "mini-MOC" at the other athletics location about 15 miles away is set up to allow students to monitor weather in real time, too.
Day 5 is shaping up to be more active, with chances for showers and thunderstorms this afternoon. Eli (l) and Dylan (r) are preparing their morning briefing for the rest of the Special Olympics Emergency Operations crew.
Day 4, Matt (l) and Jack (r) are in the Main Operations Center (MOC), monitoring, among other things, the Air Quality Index. We are keeping an eye on tomorrow's weather, too - we'll be launching a weather balloon at the National Sports Center ~1 PM local on Tues in advance of unsettled weather.