00Z model run on time, 14 balloon reports flagged
Model status
NWS is producing the 00Z model run on schedule. Forecast model output should reach forecasters, apps and websites at the usual times.
“00Z” is the run’s start time in UTC. NWS runs its main models four times a day — 00Z, 06Z, 12Z and 18Z — and each run begins by digesting a global snapshot of current conditions taken at that hour.
127 weather balloon launches were available to feed this run (8 in Alaska, 26 in Canada, 64 in Lower 48, 14 in Mexico, 7 in Caribbean, 8 in Pacific). “Stations available for ingest” means balloon soundings that arrived in time to be folded into the model’s starting picture of the atmosphere. Twice a day, sites across North America release balloons that measure temperature, humidity, pressure and wind all the way up. More stations reporting means a better-anchored starting point.
Balloon reports UPDATED 00Z GFS RAOB RECAP...
Twice a day, NWS and partner agencies release weather balloons that carry a radiosonde — a small instrument package that radios back temperature, humidity, pressure and wind as it climbs. Those soundings are one of the main ingredients in a forecast model’s starting conditions. This section is the roll call of stations that had a problem for the 00Z run of the GFS.
14 stations were flagged: 3 sent no usable sounding at all, 9 reported a numeric status code, 2 had bad data removed by quality control. A handful of gaps is normal and is not by itself a sign of a forecast problem — the models are built to work with an incomplete picture.
| Station | Where | What happened | As printed |
|---|---|---|---|
| SYA 70414 | Shemya AFB, AK | No weather balloon data from this station reached the NAM run. The GFS run did get a report from it. | No report for the NAM...Full report in for the GFS |
| JAX 72206 | Jacksonville/Intl, FL | No weather balloon data from this station reached the model for this cycle — either no launch happened or the data did not arrive in time. | No report |
| OTX 72786 | Spokane, WA | No weather balloon data from this station reached the model for this cycle — either no launch happened or the data did not arrive in time. | No report |
| OTZ 70133 | Kotzebue, Ralph Wien, AK | Ground equipment failure — the station’s tracking/receiving equipment was down, so no usable sounding was produced. | 10142...Ground equipment failure |
| BET 70219 | Bethel/Bethel Airport, AK | The station reported status code 10159. NWS does not publish a public legend for these codes, so we will not guess at what it means — it signals some problem with the launch or the data. unrecognised status code 10159 | 10159 |
| MCG 70231 | Mcgrath, AK | Ground equipment failure — the station’s tracking/receiving equipment was down, so no usable sounding was produced. | 10142...Ground equipment failure |
| SNP 70308 | St. Paul Islands, AK | The station reported status code 10159. NWS does not publish a public legend for these codes, so we will not guess at what it means — it signals some problem with the launch or the data. unrecognised status code 10159 | 10159 |
| AKN 70326 | King Salmon, AK | The station reported status code 10159. NWS does not publish a public legend for these codes, so we will not guess at what it means — it signals some problem with the launch or the data. unrecognised status code 10159 | 10159 |
| ADQ 70350 | Kodiak, AK | Ground equipment failure — the station’s tracking/receiving equipment was down, so no usable sounding was produced. | 10142...Ground equipment failure |
| TWC 72274 | Tucson, AZ | The station reported status code 10159. NWS does not publish a public legend for these codes, so we will not guess at what it means — it signals some problem with the launch or the data. unrecognised status code 10159 | 10159 |
| GCM 78384 | Owen Roberts Airport Grand Cay · Cayman Islands | Ground equipment failure — the station’s tracking/receiving equipment was down, so no usable sounding was produced. | 10142...Ground equipment failure |
| GUM 91212 | Weather Forecast Office, Guam · Guam | The station reported status code 10145. NWS does not publish a public legend for these codes, so we will not guess at what it means — it signals some problem with the launch or the data. unrecognised status code 10145 | 10145...Unfavorable weather conditions |
| OUN 72357 | Norman/Max Westheimer A, OK | Quality control removed part of this sounding before it reached the models: spurious wind at 990mb. The rest of the sounding was still used. | Purged spurious wind at 990mb |
| MZL 76654 | Manzanillo, Col · Mexico | Quality control removed part of this sounding before it reached the models: temps/moisture 879-877mb... super-adiabatic lapse rates. The rest of the sounding was still used. | Purged temps/moisture 879-877mb... super-adiabatic lapse rates |
Show the original message
Exactly as NWS transmitted it. Everything above is our plain-English reading of this text — if the two ever disagree, this is the authoritative version.
000
NOUS42 KWNO 180304
ADMSDM
SENIOR DUTY METEOROLOGIST NWS ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE
NWS CENTRAL OPERATIONS COLLEGE PARK MD
0303Z SUN OCT 18 2026
00Z NWS model production started on time with 8 Alaskan...
26 Canadian...64 CONUS...14 Mexican...7 Caribbean...and
8 Pacific stations available for ingest. In addition,
there were 4 dropsondes and 3 flight level obs in the
vicinity of Hurricane Trudy in the Eastern Pacific.
UPDATED 00Z GFS RAOB RECAP...
70414/SYA - No report for the NAM...Full report in for the
GFS
72206/JAX - No report
72786/OTX - No report
70133/OTZ - 10142...Ground equipment failure
70219/BET - 10159
70231/MCG - 10142...Ground equipment failure
70308/SNP - 10159
70326/AKN - 10159
70350/ADQ - 10142...Ground equipment failure
72274/TWC - 10159
78384/GCM - 10142...Ground equipment failure
91212/GUM - 10145...Unfavorable weather conditions
72357/OUN - Purged spurious wind at 990mb
76654/MZL - Purged temps/moisture 879-877mb...
super-adiabatic lapse rates
Kempisty/SDM/NCO