00Z model run on time, 16 balloon reports flagged, 3 satellite sectors 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-East is pointing mesoscale sector 1 at a point about 100 mi SSW of Minneapolis, MN — 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
- 43.6°N, 93.7°W view on map
- Window
- until
- Reason given
- fire weather operations, with IMETs deployed, in Minnesota
GOES-West is pointing mesoscale sector 1 at a point about 130 mi WNW of Elko, NV — 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
- 41.5°N, 118.1°W view on map
- Window
- from until
- Reason given
- fire weather operations, with IMETs deployed, in the Pacific Northwest
GOES-West is pointing mesoscale sector 2 at a point about 65 mi SW of Albuquerque, NM — 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
- 34.4°N, 107.4°W view on map
- Window
- from until
- Reason given
- severe weather and excessive rainfall operations in New Mexico
Balloon reports 00Z 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 00Z run.
16 stations were flagged: 7 sent no usable sounding at all, 9 reported a numeric status code. 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 NAM run. The GFS run did get a report from it. | No report for NAM; Available for GFS |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| TFX 72776 | Great Falls, 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 NAM run. The GFS run did get a report from it. | No report for NAM; Available for GFS |
| 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 | Any reason not listed above — other or unspecified reason. “Unavailable” may appear as free text, but is not the formal definition. | 10159 |
| 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 |
| AKN 70326 | King Salmon, 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 |
| ABQ 72365 | Albuquerque/Intl, NM | Any reason not listed above — other or unspecified reason. “Unavailable” may appear as free text, but is not the formal definition. | 10159 |
| BIS 72764 | Bismarck/Municipal, ND | Ground equipment failure — the receiving, tracking, processing, or other ground system failed. | 10142 |
| POS 78970 | Piarco Intl, Trinidad · Trinidad and Tobago | Any reason not listed above — other or unspecified reason. “Unavailable” may appear as free text, but is not the formal definition. | 10159 |
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.
122 weather balloon launches were available to feed this run (10 in Alaska, 25 in Canada, 58 in Lower 48, 12 in Mexico, 7 in Caribbean, 10 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 010313 ADMSDM SENIOR DUTY METEOROLOGIST NWS ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE NWS CENTRAL OPERATIONS COLLEGE PARK MD 0312Z SAT AUG 01 2026 MDS STATUS... GOES-E Meso Sector 1 will be centered over 43.6N/93.7W until 04/1200Z in support of fire weather operations, with IMETs deployed, in Minnesota. GOES-W Meso Sector 1 will be centered over 41.5N/118.1W from 01/1500Z to 02/1200Z in support of fire weather operations, with IMETs deployed, in the Pacific Northwest. GOES-W Meso Sector 2 will be centered over 34.4N/107.4W from 01/1800Z to 02/0600Z in support of severe weather and excessive rainfall operations in New Mexico. 00Z UPDATED RAOB RECAP... 70414/SYA - No report for NAM; Available for GFS 72206/JAX - No report 72388/VEF - No report 72645/GRB - No report 72776/TFX - No report 72786/OTX - No report 74455/DVN - No report for NAM; Available for GFS 70133/OTZ - 10159 70219/BET - 10159 70308/SNP - 10159 70326/AKN - 10159 72265/MAF - 10142 72274/TWC - 10159 72365/ABQ - 10159 72764/BIS - 10142 78970/POS - 10159 The 00Z NWS model production continues to run on time. There were 10 Alaskan...25 Canadian...58 CONUS...12 Mexican...7 Caribbean and 10 Pacific stations available for ingest. Gerhardt/SDM/NCO