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 over Mexico, about 455 mi WSW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico — 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
- 20.5°N, 116.5°W view on map
- Window
- from until
- Reason given
- NHC monitoring of Hurricane Rachel
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 050341 ADMSDM SENIOR DUTY METEOROLOGIST NWS ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE NWS CENTRAL OPERATIONS COLLEGE PARK MD 0340Z MON OCT 05 2026 MDS STATUS... GOES-W MDS Sector 1 will be centered over 20.5N/116.5W from 0600Z to 06/0600Z in support of NHC monitoring of Hurricane Rachel. Churchill/SDM/NCO