DOW Visits PSU as Part of the PSUDROPS Program

Banner for the PSUDROPS program. Courtesy of PSUDROPS facebook event page.

This week at Penn State we are blessed to be visited by the DOW (Doppler on Wheels) as a part of the PSUDROPS (Penn State University Dual-pol Radar for Outreach and Precipitation Studies) program. As a meteorology student, I am required to learn how to operate, collect, and interpret data from the DOW in my Mesoscale and Radar meteorology courses as part of the expected course work. (Hence, the precipitation studies part of the acronym.) I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to construct a few interesting blog posts on the DOW.

"Tornado pod"

So far, I do know that I ( and a few other fellow students) might get the opportunity to take the DOW out on Friday night to scan the passage of a front. This will be used in our field project for Meteo434 (radar meteorology course). I have also volunteered to talk about the "tornado pod" on Saturday as part of an community outreach program during the State College Fall Festival. This is super exciting, as I have never seen a deployment pod in person before. I will try to document as much as I can and post blogs updates as they become available.

To be presented with this once in a lifetime opportunity to work with the DOW and to become acquainted with the procedures needed to run the radar and collect/interpret data is exciting. I am even more excited to share my experiences with you as they become available!

If you are interested in reading more, here is the facebook event page.


Enjoy a few photos that I took today during my quick crash course in DOW operations.

Close-up of "tornado pod"

Tornado pod with DOW7 in the background.

Stormy Weather Possible for the Northeast

Surface analysis courtesy of Intellicast.

A cold front that is situated over Southern Quebec through Central New York/Pennsylvania and into the lower Ohio Valley will help to set up favorable conditions for some severe storms in the New England States, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the Central Appalachians this afternoon. An elongated trough of lower pressure sits over this entire area, currently, which will help decrease heights as the day progresses.

Even though mid-level lapse rates should remain weak, a few other factors will play an important role in setting the stage for storm development in the slight risk area today. A combination of an air mass rich in moisture and moderate daytime surface heating should help CAPE values increase to about 1000 J/Kg in central Maine to larger values of about 2000 J/Kg in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Development of storms will be seen initially along the outflow boundary from overnight storms and the lee trough in the central/northeast Pennsylvania and southern New York areas. Expect storm development later this afternoon along and ahead of the cold front boundary as it makes its way through the projected slight risk area. Storms should be expected to develop in the Mid-Hudson Valley and eastward into central/eastern New England.

Storms should develop into lines/clusters with the primary threat being locally damaging wind from embedded bowing segments. A few isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out due to the strength of the 700 mb flow (40-50 kts) and the moisture rich lower levels of the atmosphere. Storms should merge into a squall line and diminish later tonight.

Overview of the projected slight risk area for 9/6/2014 courtesy of Storm Prediction Center.