NWS Guide

31 balloon reports flagged, satellite sector moved

31 balloon reports flagged, satellite sector moved

Routine ADM

31 balloon reports flagged, satellite sector moved

Issued (1458Z FRI SEP 18 2026) · by Green, on duty as SDM

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.

Weather balloon stations flagged in this message
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