31 balloon reports flagged, satellite sector moved
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-West is pointing mesoscale sector 1 at a point about 45 mi E of Salt Lake City, UT — to support severe thunderstorm and tornado forecasting. 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, 111.0°W view on map
- Reason given
- severe storms across the Intermountain West
Balloon reports 12Z UPDATED 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.
31 stations were flagged: 26 sent no usable sounding at all, 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| YAK 70361 | Yakutat, AK | 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 |
| LCH 72240 | Lake Charles/Municipal, LA | 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 |
| SHV 72248 | Shreveport/Reg, LA | 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 |
| BRO 72250 | Brownsville/Intl, 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 |
| CRP 72251 | Corpus Christi/Intl, 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 |
| AMA 72363 | Amarillo/INTL, 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 |
| EPZ 72364 | Santa Teresa, 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 |
| ABQ 72365 | Albuquerque/Intl, NM | 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 |
| FGZ 72376 | Flagstaff, AZ | 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 |
| DDC 72451 | Dodge City/Municipal, KS | 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 |
| GJT 72476 | Grand Junction/Walker Field, CO | 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 |
| OAX 72558 | Valley, NE | 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 |
| LBF 72562 | North Platte/Lee Bird, NE | 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 |
| LKN 72582 | Elko, NV | 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 |
| MFR 72597 | Medford/Medford-Jackson County, OR | 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 |
| GRB 72645 | Green Bay/A.-Straubel, WI | 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 |
| ABR 72659 | Aberdeen/Reg, SD | 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 |
| UNR 72662 | Rapid City/Regional Airport, S, SD | 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 |
| RIW 72672 | Riverton, WY | 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 |
| BOI 72681 | Boise/Municipal, ID | 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 |
| CAR 72712 | Caribou/Municipal, ME | 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 |
| BIS 72764 | Bismarck/Municipal, ND | 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 |
| GGW 72768 | Glasgow/Intl, MT | 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 |
| DVN 74455 | Quad City, IA | 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 |
| MAJ 91376 | Majuro/Marshall Island Intl · Marshall Islands | 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 |
| 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 |
| MAF 72265 | Midland/Midland Reg. Airterm, TX | 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 |
| 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 |
| GYM 76256 | Empalme, Mexico · Mexico | 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 |
| BDA 78016 | L F Wade Intl · Bermuda | 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. | Missing TTBB |
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 181458 ADMSDM SENIOR DUTY METEOROLOGIST NWS ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE NWS CENTRAL OPERATIONS COLLEGE PARK MD 1458Z FRI SEP 18 2026 MDS STATUS... GOES-W MDS Sector 1 will be centered over 40.8N/111W from now to 19/1200Z in support of severe storms across the Intermountain West. 12Z UPDATED RAOB RECAP... `70361/YAK - No report `72240/LCH - No report `72248/SHV - No report `72250/BRO - No report `72251/CRP - No report `72363/AMA - No report `72364/EPZ - No report `72365/ABQ - No report `72376/FGZ - No report `72451/DDC - No report `72476/GJT - No report `72558/OAX - No report `72562/LBF - No report `72582/LKN - No report `72597/MFR - No report `72645/GRB - No report `72659/ABR - No report `72662/UNR - No report `72672/RIW - No report `72681/BOI - No report `72712/CAR - No report `72764/BIS - No report `72768/GGW - No report `72786/OTX - No report `74455/DVN - No report `91376/MAJ - No report `70308/SNP - 10159 `72265/MAF - 10159 `72274/TWC - 10159 `76256/GYM - 10159 `78016/BDA - Missing TTBB Green/SDM/NCO

