Model run on time, 38 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 140 mi SSW of Salt Lake City, UT — to support fire weather operations. 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
- 38.8°N, 112.4°W view on map
- Window
- from until
- Reason given
- fire wx research
Balloon reports 12Z NAM 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 of the NAM.
38 stations were flagged: 29 sent no usable sounding at all, 7 reported a numeric status code, 1 had a balloon burst early, 2 were 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SYA 70414 | Shemya AFB, 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 |
| MFL 72202 | Miami, 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 |
| 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 |
| PBZ 72520 | Pittsburgh/Greater Pittsburgh, PA | 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 |
| SLC 72572 | Salt Lake City/Intl Ut, UT | 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 |
| APX 72634 | Gaylord, MI | 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 |
| OTZ 70133 | Kotzebue, Ralph Wien, AK | Any reason not listed above — other or unspecified reason. “Unavailable” may appear as free text, but is not the formal definition. | 10159 |
| BET 70219 | Bethel/Bethel Airport, AK | Report not filed — no report was filed for the required sounding. | 10140 |
| SNP 70308 | St. Paul Islands, AK | Any reason not listed above — other or unspecified reason. “Unavailable” may appear as free text, but is not the formal definition. | 10159 |
| MAF 72265 | Midland/Midland Reg. Airterm, TX | Ground equipment failure — the receiving, tracking, processing, or other ground system failed. | 10142 |
| TWC 72274 | Tucson, AZ | Any reason not listed above — other or unspecified reason. “Unavailable” may appear as free text, but is not the formal definition. | 10159 |
| GCM 78384 | Owen Roberts Airport Grand Cay · Cayman Islands | Ground equipment failure — the receiving, tracking, processing, or other ground system failed. | 10142 |
| YUX 71081 | Hall Beach Ua, Nu · Canada | The balloon burst early. It stopped reporting at 693 mb, so this sounding only covers the lower part of the atmosphere — forecasters and models got no data above roughly 3.1 km (10,000 ft). (693 mb ≈ 3.1 km (10,000 ft)) | Short to 693.0mb.. 10150 |
| DTX 72632 | White Lake, MI | 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 |
| 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 |
Model status
A status note about the current model run.
104 weather balloon launches were available to feed this run (10 in Alaska, 25 in Canada, 38 in Lower 48, 14 in Mexico, 8 in Caribbean, 9 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.
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 031329 ADMSDM SENIOR DUTY METEOROLOGIST NWS ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE NWS CENTRAL OPERATIONS COLLEGE PARK MD 1328Z MON AUG 03 2026 MDS STATUS... GOES-W MDS Sector 1 will be centered over 38.8N/112.4W from 1415Z to 04/0300Z in support of fire wx research. 12Z NAM RAOB RECAP... 70414/SYA - No report 72202/MFL - 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 72520/PBZ - No report 72558/OAX - No report 72562/LBF - No report 72572/SLC - No report 72582/LKN - No report 72597/MFR - No report 72634/APX - 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 70133/OTZ - 10159 70219/BET - 10140 70308/SNP - 10159 72265/MAF - 10142 72274/TWC - 10159 78384/GCM - 10142 71081/YUX - Short to 693.0mb.. 10150 72632/DTX - Missing TTBB 78016/BDA - Missing TTBB There were 10 Alaskan...25 Canadian...38 CONUS...14 Mexican... 8 Caribbean and 9 Pacific stations available for ingest. Green/SDM/NCO