PSUDROPS Community Outreach Program Successful!

This past Saturday I volunteered my time to do some outreach in the State College community. This consisted of helping to educate the public on weather radar and instruments such, like the DOW (Doppler on Wheels) and the tornado pod. Instruments like this need to be talked about more. Without these we would not be able to see how severe storms develop, work, and how they move. They are extremely important to the Meteorology community. These are the instruments that gather weather data that help save lives!

The operator's Chair.

Dr. Richardson (Mesoscale Meteorology Professor)
in the Coordinator's Chair.

Myself and the Tornado Pod.

From 10am-3pm, I explained to members of the community the importance of such instruments in the Meteorological community. It was very exciting to see many parents encouraging their young children to learn more about the science behind weather. The day was very busy and we had 150-200 people come through, visit the DOW, and learn about the tornado pod. To see the excitement on the faces of the children who stopped by was truly inspiring.

Dr. Kumjian being interview by Jill (Meteo student)
 for a quick feature that she is working on for the Meteo dept.

I have one especially memorable moment from the event that I would like to share. I met this little boy who couldn't be more than 5 or 6 years old. His mother approached me and told me that he was afraid of thunderstorms and always looked at radar as storms were approaching to make sure that he was safe. This reminds me of my younger self; I was the exact same way. This is the exact way I became interested in the weather and then went on to pursue a Meterology degree at Penn State. To share this personal experience with this child was such a feel good experience. I was able to explain to him how thunderstorms worked and told him how interesting and cool they really were. I felt so satisfied having this experience and being able to relate on a personal level. Maybe one day in the child's future he will remember the conversation we had and he will go on to do great things in the Meteorology community!

All-in-all the day was very successful and I felt that the Meteorology department here at Penn State received a lot positive publicity. It was a lot of fun to be able to teach young and old about the cool things we do here in the department, and about how cool this science really is. I was interviewed quickly by a classmate on how I felt about the DOW visit and that was exciting as well! This has been a fantastic week so far!

Members of the community gathering around the tornado pod
learning about it uses.

Meteorology students (including myself) posing with the tornado pod.

First Deployment in the DOW

A quick update on the DOW visit! Today was my our day to deploy (Helen, Emily, Johan, and I) and we couldn't have better timing for our deployment. Our shift was from 5-7pm, we left around 430pm and made it to the site at 445pm. After the group before us finished up their scans, we took a few pictures with the DOW and jumped in to begin our adventure. Shortly after getting in the DOW, discussing our strategies and getting used to the controls, the front started to approach us.

When you first climb up the door to get into the DOW in can be very overwhelming. There are 2 main sets of computers, one is for the operator and the other is for the coordinator. Each person has their own set of duties while running radar sweeps. The operator is obviously the commander-in-chief. They are the person to run the scans. This includes switching pulses (which has to be done in a very specific order), choosing elevation angles to tell the radar to sweep over, changing the azimuth angles of the radar, controlling the speed at which the radar turns, controlling the highest and lowest elevation angles the radar will sweep at, and the list goes on and on. One can just imagine what this person's job would consist of. It is very overwhelming at times, especially when this is the first time you've done something like this. There are so many controls and buttons to play with! The coordinator can basically help with most of the above and are responsible for note-taking, which is super important so one can remember all the different things they did for their different scanning strategies. Things get a bit crazy inside the DOW, especially when you have a bunch of overzealous Meteorology students who are super excited about this project. For all of us this is the first time we've gotten hands on experience with radar, and for it to be the DOW, thats pretty big!

Me acting as the Operator of the DOW,
 running live radar sweeps.

The front moved through the area shortly after we started our shift. We started scanning only with PPIs, which are what you are used to seeing on a normal radar image. We did this because the front was still pretty far away, and there wasn't much to see in vertical cross-sections. As the storm moved closer we decided to add RHIs to our list of scans. After a little bit of editing and playing with the elevations angles and such, we finally were getting some interesting data. We saw Kelvin-Helmholtz instability/waves in the upper levels of the front. The bright band/ melting layer also made an appearance. This is the layer in the atmosphere in which the snow/ice begins melting and becomes coated in liquid water. At this layer, we see a jump in reflectivity, as water scatters the beam given off by the radar more than ice does.

Reflectivity and Velocity Image.

RHI scan showing vertical cross-section
of the front.

All in all we had such a fantastic experience on our first official DOW deployment and I was lucky to be paired with a group of enthusiastic people.  Dr. Kumjian stopped by to spend some time with us, and so did the new Meteorology department head, David Stensrud, and his wife. There is so much to take away from this experience and we here at Penn State are so lucky to have the opportunity to have hands on experience with the DOW for the next week. I am hoping to get out again sometime to scan maybe migrating birds, insects, or something else that can give us a cool signature. Even a wind farm would be fun, so we can see the velocity images and such. I want to leave you with a few more pictures from tonight of radar images and group photos! This photo above is with our deployment group, the Meteorology 434 (radar meteorology) professor and the DOW driver/operator, Traeger.

Picture of me standing in front of the DOW!!! Finally :)

                 

Example of the melting layer/bright band displayed in the vertical cross-section image of the storm.

The DOW 7.

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.

Slight Risk for Central Plains, Mid-Atlantic Region

Severe weather is expected in parts of the Central Plains, Upper Mississippi Valley and parts of the Northeast today as we progress into the late afternoon and evening hours.


Afternoon storms in the Central Plains should be minimal, but not ruled out, with the main threat for storms starting along a cold front later in the day. Dew points reaching the mid-upper 60s by late afternoon, deep vertical shear, steep lapse rates, high cape values, westerly flow aloft, and a moist southerly flow bringing in tropical moisture from the gulf, creates the perfect environment for severe storm development. Isolated supercells should begin the storm development along the cold front that will be making its way through the area later today. Later in the evening storms should start to grow and develop into bowing segments capable of producing damaging winds and large hail. Expect to see a few isolated tornados and some very heavy rain with these storms as well.


In the Mid-Atlantic region, strong heating is occuring from Northern Virginia to the New York city area. High precipitable water values and 30-40 knot westerly mid-level winds will help contribute to some storm development this afternoon and early evening. A few of these storms can become severe. Formation of supercell and bowing structures are possible. If you live in these areas keep an eye out for damaging winds.

3rd Named Tropical Depression Develops in the Atlantic

Tropical storm Cristobal over southeast Bahamas.
Photo provided by NASA.

A new tropical storm has caught the attention of Meteorologists over the last few days. Tropical storm Cristobal, which is the third tropical storm in the Atlantic, is sitting about 100 miles east off the coast of the central Bahamas. Cristobal is dumping some pretty heavy rain over the central and southeast Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands and is moving slowly. Once it meets with the jet stream and a high pressure system that is sitting in the Central Atlantic ocean, the tropical storm will pick up the pace. The storm is projected to reach hurricane strength by early Wednesday morning, where it will then be a category 1.

Currently Cristobal poses no significant weather threat to the U.S. as models show it will move northeast into the Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard will see some impacts due to the strong winds circulating around the storm since it will be just close enough for the winds to reach the coast. These stronger winds will affect parts of the Mid-Atlantic seaboard to Florida's beaches up until Wednesday. When there are strong winds in and around the coast, high surfs follow and will most likely cause some very minor coastal flooding. The areas that should be most concerned with this threat include the northeast Florida coast, northern Outer Banks of North Carolina, southeast Virginia and possibly the southern Delmarva Peninsula. Strong rip currents from Florida and as far north as the Jersey Shore are another concern that will be monitored as Cristobal moves northeast.

Path of Cristobal up until Thursday.
Photo provided by Weather Underground.

A "1 In 100 Year" Event: The Meteorology Behind East Indiana's Historic Flooding

On August 21, 2014 several meteorological variables came together across East Central Indiana leading to flash flooding of historic proportions, which many are calling a "1 in 100 year" event.

That morning, a slow-moving frontal boundary began lifting north out of the Ohio Valley, with dewpoints soring into the low 70s behind the front.  At the same time, an advancing ridge of high pressure began to build east across the Midwest from the Central Plains.  The ridge also aided in baroclinic lift, with showers and thunderstorms training along the periphery of the surface high.

Showers and heavy thunderstorms began impacting the region shortly after daybreak, as the first of a series of mid-level impulses rounded the ridge axis.  These impulses - referred to as vort max's by Meteorologists, promote enhanced lift downstream of the direction wind is coming from.  As air enters one of these impulses, it is accelerated by ageostrophic components.

By Noon, the front had lifted far enough north and east for ongoing convection to spread across Central Ohio.  Breaks in cloud cover aided in daytime heating and atmospheric instability across East Central Indiana.  By the mid-afternoon hours, most of the area lied within the warm sector, with surface dewpoints well in the 70s.

The front then began to slowly drift south, as another series of mid-level impulses moved southeast from Wisconsin.  By dark, the front had become nearly stationary, with showers and severe thunderstorms impacting Northern Illinois and Northwest Indiana.
 

12-hour NEXRAD loop from August 22, shows showers and heavy thunderstorms training along a stationary front across Central Indiana (image courtesy of NEXLAB - College of Dupage and UCAR).

By Midnight, a slow-moving MCC - or Mesoscale Convective Complex, had formed across North Central Indiana.  As this complex moved southeast, additional showers and thunderstorms exploded along the stalled front, ahead of a very moist and unstable air mass.

With little steering winds aloft, storm movement was very slow.  Heavy rain - in upwards of an inch an hour, inundated portions of East Central Indiana.  Particulary hardest hit was Hartford City in Blackford County, which lied directly in the path of an elongated vort max.  By daybreak, as much as 11 inches of rain had fallen within a 12-hour window.

48-hour precipitation totals show a corridor of dark red, indicating as much as 10 inches or more of rain fell along a Marion to Muncie line, much of which occurred within a 12-hour window (image courtesy of the National Weather Service).

Climatologically, the atmospheric variables that came together on August 22, 2014 to produce historic flash flooding across East Central Indiana were a 1 in 50-100 year event.




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