Follow the adventures of storm chaser Rebekah Lo.
I’m heading out to Florida! The SPC outlooks show severe storms may be around me each day I’m traveling, but I should stay ahead of them…this is one time I don’t want severe storms. around me. 🙂
I’ll write more in the blog at the end of the day, which should find me in northern Mississippi!
Thanks for following along!
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Well, it looks like a storm system will be chasing me to Florida…I should remain just ahead of it, though, so hopefully I’ll have nice weather on the way down.
Here are the maps I posted yesterday, only based on last night’s 00Z run of the GFS. Getting closer and closer to launch day!
All maps are from TwisterData (click to enlarge) and are valid for 18Z on the 29th (i.e., 2 pm EDT on shuttle launch day).
500mb map:
Surface temperature (slightly warmer than the previous day’s 00Z run):
Dewpoint temperature (also slightly higher, as I expected):
Once again the precipitation forecast is for showers in southern Florida. I certainly hope the front passes through even earlier than expected, as that will keep rain chances to the south of the Cape.
Oh, and Happy Easter! 🙂
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I’ve got so much on my plate right now, I’m going to keep this short.
Here are a few weather maps (click to enlarge) from TwisterData, based on last night’s 00Z run of the GFS, valid for 18Z on the 29th (i.e., 2 pm EDT on shuttle launch day).
The 500mb map shows a trough over the east coast, north of Florida, with a ridge building in the Midwest. I’d say this is a pretty good setup for a general lack of rain.
The surface temperature map indicates a weak front pushing through, with winds over Cape Canaveral out of the north-northeast and a temperature near 70 °F (I’m certain it’s going to be higher than that, though!).
The model forecast for dewpoints in the mid-50s to near 60 °F at the Cape is also lower than I expect it will be.
Finally, what we’re all most interested in…will it rain on launch day? Currently models have the front passing through central Florida the day before the launch, suggesting we could have a slight chance for showers and thunderstorms on the first day of the Tweetup, but hopefully will be good to go on launch day (the below 6-hour precipitation total shows showers in south Florida, but not east central Florida).
Note: Coming up this week, I plan on blogging more about my road trip, NASA, and the launch experience than about weather (except for perhaps weather along the way!). This means I plan on suspending the normal Monday and Tuesday series until I get back.
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Jeff and I headed down to Texas late yesterday afternoon, in hopes of finding a supercell forming along the warm front near / just south of the Red River. There were a couple of nice supercells that formed in far west Texas, but in the end, nothing for us. Oh well, it was just a 7-hour, 315 mile trip, and back by 10!
Today there could be a shot at storms in the same general area, but I’m not sure if I’ll be persuaded to go or not yet as I’ve still got some preparing to do for the Florida trip! 3 days until I leave, and 1 week until launch (if no delays)! 🙂
Here is a little calf I tried to make friends with yesterday, near Denton, Texas. Sadly, he would have none of it, and quickly ran into the field, where he blended in quite nicely.
And here is the anvil of a tornado-warned supercell just northwest of Abilene (also taken from Denton). It was a nice sunset!
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Yesterday I received an email with more details on the NASA Tweetup, including the schedule, which made me even more excited!! 🙂
Thursday, April 28/L-1: Tweetup Day 1*
7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. – Registration at the Kennedy Space Center Press Accreditation Badging Building; travel to the press site, set up, meet fellow participants
10:00 a.m. – Welcome by @NASA team members Stephanie Schierholz and John Yembrick
10:07 a.m. – Meet the tweeps
10:45 a.m. – Demo of Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) and Mark III spacesuits
11:00 a.m. – Lunch break
12:00 p.m.-1:40 p.m. — NASA TV starts for the formal #NASATweetup program, featuring:
·        Dana M. Hutcherson, space shuttle Endeavour’s flow director, Kennedy Space Center
·        Tara Ruttley, International Space Station associate program scientist, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, @ISS_research
·        Astronaut Clay Anderson, @Astro_Clay, Expedition 15 flight engineer, STS-131 mission specialist, shuttle Discovery (April 5-20, 2010)
1:45 p.m. – Board tour buses
2:00 p.m. – Tour of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, including visits to the Apollo Saturn V Center, a drive by the Shuttle Landing Facility, Mate-Demate Device, Orbiter Processing Facility, Vehicle Assembly Building and Mobile Launcher Platforms, and viewing of the retraction of the Rotating Service Structure, scheduled for 7 p.m.
8:15 p.m. – Return to the press site
Friday, April 29/ Launch: Tweetup Day 2
8:00 a.m. – Badges will get you in Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 press site
9:00 a.m. – Group picture beside the countdown clock
9:05 a.m. – Astronaut Ricky Arnold, STS-119 Discovery (March 15-28, 2009)
9:30 a.m. – Astronaut Leland Melvin, associate administrator for Education, NASA Headquarters, @Astro_Flow
10:00 a.m. – Daire McCabe, designer at LEGO
10:30 a.m. – Lt. Col. Patrick Barrett, 45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Air Force
~11:57 a.m. – Astronauts depart their crew quarters for Launch Pad 39A
~12:10 p.m. – Tweetup participants (assembled along the road across from the Launch Control Center) wave to the crew as they drive by in the astrovan on their way to the launch pad
~2:15 p.m. – STS-134 Closeout Crew member (Endeavour’s hatch is closed and latched for launch at ~1:42 p.m. EDT)
3:47 p.m. – Launch of space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-134 mission
~5:00 p.m. – Post-launch news conference on NASA TV
Following the launch, you are free to depart on your own schedule. If you leave immediately, be prepared to sit in traffic for quite some time.
*Program speakers and times are subject to change
(In the event of a 24-hour delay, we will invite you back for a launch opportunity on April 30; the timeline would move about 30 minutes earlier)
————
A number of celebrities have announced that they will be there to view the launch as well, including actors LeVar Burton, Seth Green, and Clare Grant (all of whom will be attending the Tweetup) and Representative Giffords and President Obama and family (viewing from nearby).
Let’s hope for good weather!
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