00Z model run on time, 18 balloon reports flagged, satellite sector moved
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.
124 weather balloon launches were available to feed this run (8 in Alaska, 26 in Canada, 61 in Lower 48, 12 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.
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.
18 stations were flagged: 8 sent no usable sounding at all, 9 reported a numeric status code, 1 had a balloon burst early. 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 |
| 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 |
| VEF 72388 | Las Vegas, 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 |
| PBZ 72520 | Pittsburgh/Greater Pittsburgh, PA | 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 |
| SLC 72572 | Salt Lake City/Intl Ut, UT | 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| PNI 91348 | Ponape/Caroline Is · Micronesia | The balloon burst early. It stopped reporting at 434 mb, so this sounding only covers the lower part of the atmosphere — forecasters and models got no data above roughly 6.6 km (21,500 ft). (434 mb ≈ 6.6 km (21,500 ft)) | No report for the NAM...Short to 434mb for the GFS |
| OTZ 70133 | Kotzebue, Ralph Wien, 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| BRO 72250 | Brownsville/Intl, TX | 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 |
| CUU 76225 | Not in our station table | The station reported status code 10158. 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 10158 | 10158...Flight equipment failure |
| GGW 72768 | Glasgow/Intl, MT | Missing Parts TTAA/TTBB. | Missing Parts TTAA/TTBB |
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 2 over the eastern Pacific — to keep a close eye on a tropical system. 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
- 18.0°N, 132.0°W view on map
- Window
- from until
- Reason given
- monitoring Tropical Storm Norbert in the Eastern Pacific
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 130340
ADMSDM
SENIOR DUTY METEOROLOGIST NWS ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE
NWS CENTRAL OPERATIONS COLLEGE PARK MD
0339Z SUN SEP 13 2026
00Z NWS model production is running on time with 8
Alaskan...26 Canadian...61 CONUS...12 Mexican...8
Caribbean...and 9 Pacific stations available for ingest.
UPDATED 00Z GFS RAOB RECAP...
70414/SYA - No report
72206/JAX - No report
72388/VEF - No report
72520/PBZ - No report for the NAM...Full report in for the
GFS
72572/SLC - No report for the NAM...Full report in for the
GFS
72645/GRB - No report
72786/OTX - No report
91348/PNI - No report for the NAM...Short to 434mb for the
GFS
70133/OTZ - 10159
70219/BET - 10159
70308/SNP - 10159
70326/AKN - 10159
70350/ADQ - 10142...Ground equipment failure
72250/BRO - 10142...Ground equipment failure
72274/TWC - 10159
78384/GCM - 10142...Ground equipment failure
76225/CUU - 10158...Flight equipment failure
72768/GGW - Missing Parts TTAA/TTBB
MDS STATUS...
GOES-W MDS Sector 2 will be centered over 18N/132W from
0330Z to 14/0000Z in support of monitoring Tropical Storm
Norbert in the Eastern Pacific.
Kempisty/SDM/NCO