IOP06  060111

 

Operator: Ken Howard and Melissa Bukovsky

 

Data Archive:  Disk 1 0601110455 to 060111755  Ô060111v1Õ

                         Disk 2 0601111800 to 060111950  Ô060111v2Õ

 

The fences had been restored to a standing position as was the outdoor bathrooms with SMARTR in same condition as left.  During startup the nav computer screen was blank and non responsive.  After checking all the connections a loose power cord under the dash was the problem.

 

04:45 First volume scan – no precip at radar site.  Moon dimly visible through mid level cloud deck.

 

04:50 SW to NE line of convection and trailing startiform approaching radar (20-40km).  No precip at radar.

 

05:15 Mid level deck thickening as evident in VPR.  Large region of echo within 10 km of radar

 

05:29 Drizzle – No detectable wind.  VPR uniform

 

05:35 R- to occasional R.  Large region of stratiform echo NE and SW with embedded echoes less than 40 dbz.  Convection appears elevated? as per not well defined at lower tilts.

 

05:50 R- to drizzle.  Line and area decreasing intensity and organization with no additional development to the west (within 100 km).

 

06:05 All activity dissipated.  Will attempt reboot of radar to potential ÔinitializeÕ archiving with Mac laptop.  Unable to log into radar computer from Mac - receive timeout error (as before).

 

06:10 Shut down radar – Attempt to connect with Mac failedÉrepeatedly.  Reconnected cable to NAV computer. Antenna miss sync required a second shutdown and restart.

 

06:50 First volume after shutdown at 06:10

 

06:55 Elevated echo (>30 dBz) 10 to 40 km N and NW.  No precip at radar

 

07:10 Transferred files 04*, 05*, 06* to NAV computer

 

07:25 Development of elevated showers north and west of radar within 30 km. Greatest amount of echo NE quad with several cells >30 dBz

 

08:10 Activity has been mostly confined to the NE quad and is relatively weak.  New echoes in NW at ranges greater than 50km.

 

08:20 – 08:40 Activities in the NE has diminished completely.  Development of widespread showers in NW continues in two regions (60 and 100 km from the radar).

 

09:10 Transferred files 07* and 08* to NAV computer

 

09:20  Mist.  A large region of strat with embedded 30-40 dBz continues to develop NW between 20-40 km. 

 

09:30 Overhead layer thickening as per the VPR.  Activity continues to move towards radarÉ.with increasing area of greater than 40 dBz.

 

09:50 Drizzle to R-.  Potential BB

 

10:00  R-.  Activity becoming more intense north of the radar from 10-20 km.  Reflectivity exceeding 55 dBz. 

 

10:10 R   Reflectivity very cellular in lower tilts with a ÔribbonÕ like structure at higher tilts with an interesting min along zero iso as previous seen in 12/30 events.

 

10:17 R-

 

10:30 R- Refl in all tilts showing an overall decrease in intensity

 

11:00 R- Second band approaching radar.  Intensities lower than initial band.

 

11:05 Drizzle to R- Weak cellular organization with some linear banding, Interesting velocity field.  Worth running a VAD analysis.

 

11:38 Drizzle

 

11:50  Mist. Overall intensity remains low with another cellular looking band forming to the west about 20-30 from radar.

 

12:05 Transferred files 09*, 10*  and 11* to NAV computer

 

12:22 R- Surface wind increasing

 

12:32 Continued weak cellular organization developing from the west moving east.  Core refl below 40 dBz.  Appears there is a lack of dynamics on the large scale???

 

13:26  R- to occasional R with slight increase in surface winds but less than 10 mph.

 

13:30 – 14:30   Continued weak cellular organization embedded in poorly defined SW to NE bands.  Max refl remain below 40.  Constant R- with brief periods of R.  Very small drops and would expect low gage accumulations with possible higher accumulations in the upper reaches of the watershed (with stronger lifting as evident in larger areas of echo in the NE quad).

 

14:20 Briefing call from HMT chief scientist – expect activity to continue until noon.  Will call with update.  Long-range progs suggest stronger event beginning on Friday and continue through Saturday.

 

14:45 Drizzle to R-.  Velocity field continues to be interesting and worthy of further investigation including the computing VADs. The refl field, especially at upper levels, has a min, which corresponds to the zero iso on the velocity field.

 

14:50 A new SW to NE band becoming slightly better defined with larger areas of embedded cores of greater than 35 dBz

 

14:54 R

 

15:00 Melissa arrived.

 

15:10 Transferred files 12*, 13* and 14* to NAV computer

 

15:25 Ken Departs

 

15:35 R-, no wind, 3 vertical layers

 

15:43 Spotty R periods last less than 1 min with light wind

 

15:55 R-  to nothing

 

16:00 R- spotty areas of reflectivity with maxÕs approaching 34 dbz within 30 km

 

16:45 Fog increasing. R- with small bands WSW to ENE w/in 40 km.  New 30 dbz echos to WSW

 

16:53 R to R-

 

16:55 R-

 

17:25 Area of echoes previously @60 km NNW now NNE still <34 dbz Light drizzle at radar

 

18:05 Transferred files 15*, 16* and 17* to NAV computer.  Little change with some new echoes @40-60 km N to NW

 

18:40 R- Broad echo still NE.  new area in SW

 

19:35 R—Echo still NE but diminished in size.  Nothing in SW

 

19:55 IOP Ended, radar shut down

 

The following day, Thursday, all raw data files were backed up to disk.  Generator tank refilled.