Spring 2008 (PDF)
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SKYWARNEWS National Weather Service State College, PA Spring/Summer 2008 “Working Together To Save Lives” The Cooperative Observers meteorological data in near real-time, to support forecast, warning and other public – Creators of Our service programs of the National Weather Country’s Weather History Service. By Victor Cruz, Observation Program Volunteers in the Cooperative Program are Leader trained by National Weather Service personnel and receive the equipment to And so, my fellow Americans: ask not perform their duties. In Central what your country can do for you—ask Pennsylvania, the oldest and longest what you can do for your country. The continuous Cooperative Program is located aforementioned sentence was uttered by in Lancaster County. The City of Lancaster President John F. Kennedy during his Filter Plant has been a cooperative weather Inaugural Address on January 20, 1961. site since May 01, 1887. Our newest However, long before President Kennedy Cooperative Observer is in Chandler’s had spoken those words, the Cooperative Valley, which was established on June 19, Weather Observer Program had been in 2004. Approximately 115 cooperative full swing, since its creation in 1890 under observers help to maintain the Cooperative the Organic Act. Observer Program in Central Pennsylvania. The National Weather Service (NWS) Everyday more than 12,000 weather Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) is volunteers take cooperative observations truly the Nation's weather and climate on farms, at homes in urban and suburban observing network of, by and for the areas, National Parks, seashores, and people. mountaintops. The data they collect are an invaluable measurement of atmospheric The basic equipment for most new Coop conditions where people live, work and Stations is a Standard Rain Gage, play. The Cooperative Observer Program’s Maximum Minimum Temperature System, mission is to provide observational and a Snow Board. Typical locations range meteorological data, usually consisting of from a typical back yard to behind barns or daily maximum and minimum farm houses. People who grow gardens or temperatures, snowfall, and 24-hour crops as a hobby or for a livelihood need to precipitation totals, required to define the know how much rain has fallen. The Coop climate of the United States and to help data collected provides this knowledge and measure long term climate changes. It is helps with watering and fertilizing also meant to provide observational decisions. Another Warmer than People who have farms or run institutions and businesses tend to stay in one place Normal Winter for the longer and generally do not change Region locations often. While such long term stability is desirable, the COOP network is By John La Corte, Senior Forecaster not restricted to just farmers and established businesses. Almost anyone can For the fourth straight winter, seasonal become a Cooperative Observer. All it temperatures in central Pennsylvania requires is dedication to public service, averaged above normal. For ease of attention to detail, ability to learn and keeping weather records, the perform daily duties, a suitable location, a “meteorological” winter extends from the willingness to allow NWS to place first day of December through the end of measuring instruments on your property, February. This year, while not quite as and willingness to allow at least one visit warm as some recent years, still averaged per year from a NWS representative. about a degree warmer than normal over Additionally, ownership of a personal the central part of the state. Figure 1 computer with modem and familiarity with illustrates the average temperature its basic uses and an established internet access is Central Pa Winter Temp Departures desired. 8.0 6.0 At present, the National Weather Service Office in 4.0 State College is seeking two citizens or institutions who 2.0 want to give something back to their community, to 0.0 volunteer as cooperative -2.0 observers in Adams, Columbia, Fulton, Montour, -4.0 and Perry Counties. If you are that person or business, -6.0 please call 814-231-2405 and 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 ask for Paul Head the Cooperative Program Figure 1. Temperature Departures Winter 2007-08 Manager for more information. departures over the region since 2001. As we moved into the winter months many areas were still under a drought watch or warning. However above normal precipitation aided in easing the dry conditions and as of late March all drought conditions had been dropped by the state. The last measure of a winter’s severity is often the amount of snow that fell. As with the temperatures, this was the fourth winter Obtaining Extra in a row of that most of the area experienced below normal snowfall. While Meteorological Data Sets we were wetter than normal, the winter for the Forecast Process was marked by a distinct lack of many large widespread heavy snows. In fact it By Ron Holmes, Information Technology seemed we saw an almost endless string of Officer messy complicated storms that brought National Weather Service forecasters need mixed bags of weather types from snow to to know the current state of the atmosphere sleet, freezing rain and rain. This posed before attempting to predict some future quite a challenge to forecasters as sleet and state. In the old days they had a smattering freezing rain are some of the hardest of observations based at large airports elements to forecast and can cause some of spaced hundreds of miles apart. This the most significant hazards to travelers. rather course network also had a limitation Figure 2 shows precipitation and snowfall of reporting at hourly intervals. The departures for several stations in central frequency of observations improved during Pennsylvania during the winter. the 1990’s when the Automated Surface Observing Rainfall Systems (ASOS) Central Pa Winter Precip/Snowfall Departures Snowfall were deployed. 3.00 35.0 Now forecasters 30.0 2.00 had observations 25.0 recorded at 5 1.00 20.0 minute intervals. 0.00 15.0 The spatial 10.0 -1.00 network also 5.0 improved -2.00 0.0 somewhat because Rainfall Departure Rainfall -3.00 -5.0 Daparture Snowfall the NWS could -10.0 -4.00 install an ASOS -15.0 unit just about -5.00 -20.0 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 anywhere. However, ASOS units are costly so deployment of Figure 2. Preciptation and Snowfall Departures 2007-08 these extra observing sites was still rather limited. We needed to fill While the winter will go in the books as in the gaps left behind by ASOS and get a mild, wet and relatively snow-less, it will denser network of observations. We didn’t also be pretty non note worthy. With the have to wait long. In the mid 90’s the cost of heating fuel being what it is these internet exploded. days, I doubt there are many who will complain that this will not be one of the The internet gave everyone the winters to remember. infrastructure to share information and data. Spotters and the general public could now take part in the forecasting process by government has fostered with private sharing their personal weather station sector weather companies. Through observations with NWS meteorologists. communication and cooperation they have Web sites came on-line that enabled made it easy for NWS offices to obtain this methods for the general public to share rich dataset. In return the NWS provides their observations. If you have a personal them with an easy to use National Digital weather station hooked up to your Forecast Database (NDFD) data set and computer you can sign up with these web real-time NWS NEXRAD radar data set so sites and join a vast community that they can produce detailed forecasts for participates in the weather enterprise. your location. Everyone wins because These web sites provide helpful articles on better observations allow forecasters to what meteorological observation systems produce better forecasts and warnings. to purchase and how to configure your PC to send the information to their site. Figure 1. Observing Sites These web sites are a prime example of the The State College NWS Office processes positive private/public relationships the weather observations from various external web sites and other sources in addition to The daily records and normals for our two our normal data stream. These First-Order Climatological Stations observations are downloaded every hour (Harrisburg and Williamsport) are now a and plotted on our AWIPS computers. bit easier to find on the NWS State College They help fill in the gaps from the ASOS webpage. To access the daily normals observing network. NWS offices, through (sometimes called averages), or the daily a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), record maximums, minimums, or extreme also cooperates with AWS Convergence highest precipitation or snowfall for any Technologies day, month, or for the whole year, go to (http://www.aws.com/aws_2005/partners.a our local Climate Info Page: sp ) to obtain hundreds of observations http://www.erh.noaa.gov/ctp/climate.php from schools, TV stations, and Emergency and make your selections on the managers for the sole purpose of plotting checkboxes and drop-down lists located on these observations on our AWIPS that page to pull up the data you wish to computers. The MOU states that we may see. not redistribute this data but it is invaluable in giving the forecasters a dense network The on-line records are updated every of observations on which to base their night, after the daily climate program has forecasts. Another source of extra run (normally by 4 am). Updating the file observing data comes from Roadway every night ensures that the data is always Weather Information Systems (RWIS) the very latest available, and that it is scattered along Interstate highways consistent, and accurate.