6 balloon reports flagged, 2 satellite sectors moved
Notices & outages
An operational notice from the Senior Duty Meteorologist.
Balloon reports UPDATED 12Z 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 12Z run.
6 stations were flagged: 5 sent no usable sounding at all, 1 reported a numeric status code, 1 was missing part of the transmission. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCG 70231 | Mcgrath, AK | Ground equipment failure — the station’s tracking/receiving equipment was down, so no usable sounding was produced. | No report for the NAM...10142 for the GFS |
| MAF 72265 | Midland/Midland Reg. Airterm, TX | 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 for the NAM...TTAA/TTBB missing for the GFS |
| OHX 72327 | Nashville/Metropolitan, TN | 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...in for the GFS |
| SGF 72440 | Springfield/Municipal, MO | 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...in for the GFS |
| APX 72634 | Gaylord, MI | 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...in for the GFS |
| LZK 72340 | Little Rock/Adams Field, AR | The station reported, but part of the sounding transmission was missing — specifically TTBB, the "significant levels" section that carries the extra detail between the standard pressure levels. The GFS run still got a usable report from this station. | Missing TTBB for the NAM...full report in for the GFS |
Satellite moves MDS STATUS...
Each GOES weather satellite has two “mesoscale sectors” — small, movable windows that the satellite photographs roughly every 60 seconds, far more often than its routine full-disk and continental scans. Forecasters aim them at whatever is most important that day. This section announces where they are being pointed and for how long.
GOES-East is pointing mesoscale sector 1 at a point about 65 mi ENE of Kansas City, MO. That means this patch of sky gets a fresh satellite image about once a minute instead of every 5 to 10 minutes, so forecasters can watch storms develop almost in real time.
- Centre point
- 39.3°N, 93.4°W view on map
- Window
- from until
GOES-East is pointing mesoscale sector 2 at a point about 55 mi SSE of Cleveland, OH. That means this patch of sky gets a fresh satellite image about once a minute instead of every 5 to 10 minutes, so forecasters can watch storms develop almost in real time.
- Centre point
- 40.8°N, 81.1°W view on map
- Window
- from until
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 091533 ADMSDM SENIOR DUTY METEOROLOGIST NWS ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE NWS CENTRAL OPERATIONS COLLEGE PARK MD 1533Z WED SEP 09 2026 The 12Z GFS began and is running on time with 10 Alaskan...26 Canadian...44 CONUS...13 Mexican...10 Caribbean...and 9 Pacific raobs available for ingest. UPDATED 12Z RAOB RECAP... 70231/MCG - No report for the NAM...10142 for the GFS 72265/MAF - No report for the NAM...TTAA/TTBB missing for the GFS 72327/OHX - No report for the NAM...in for the GFS 72440/SGF - No report for the NAM...in for the GFS 72634/APX - No report for the NAM...in for the GFS 72340/LZK - Missing TTBB for the NAM...full report in for the GFS MDS STATUS... GOES-E MDS Sector 1 is centered over 39.3N/93.4W from 1502Z until 10/1509Z to provide coverage for an SPC marginal risk of severe weather. GOES-E MDS Sector 2 is centered over 40.8N/81.1W from 15Z until 10/12Z to provide coverage for an SPC slight risk of severe weather. Ready/SDM/NCO