12Z model run on time, 35 balloon reports flagged, satellite sector moved
Model status
NWS is producing the 12Z model run on schedule. Forecast model output should reach forecasters, apps and websites at the usual times.
“12Z” 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.
111 weather balloon launches were available to feed this run (12 in Alaska, 26 in Canada, 41 in Lower 48, 13 in Mexico, 10 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 12Z 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 12Z run of the GFS.
35 stations were flagged: 26 sent no usable sounding at all, 7 reported a numeric status code, 1 had a balloon burst early, 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.
| Station | Where | What happened | As printed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| SLE 72694 | Salem/Mcnary, OR | 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 |
| 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 |
| YAP 91413 | Yap/Caroline Is · Micronesia | 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 |
| 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 |
| YAK 70361 | Yakutat, 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 |
| 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 |
| OHX 72327 | Nashville/Metropolitan, TN | Ground equipment failure — the station’s tracking/receiving equipment was down, so no usable sounding was produced. | 10142...Ground equipment failure |
| OAK 72493 | Oakland/Metrop. Oakland Intl, CA | Ground equipment failure — the station’s tracking/receiving equipment was down, so no usable sounding was produced. | 10142...Ground equipment failure |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| MZL 76654 | Manzanillo, Col · Mexico | The balloon burst early. It stopped reporting at 526 mb, so this sounding only covers the lower part of the atmosphere — forecasters and models got no data above roughly 5.2 km (17,000 ft). (526 mb ≈ 5.2 km (17,000 ft)) | Short to 526mb |
| 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 Part 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-East is pointing mesoscale sector 1 at a point about 65 mi NW of Kansas City, MO — to support flash flood and heavy rainfall 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
- 39.9°N, 95.3°W view on map
- Window
- from until
- Reason given
- excessive rainfall and severe wx ops across the Central and Southern Plains
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 301548
ADMSDM
SENIOR DUTY METEOROLOGIST NWS ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE
NWS CENTRAL OPERATIONS COLLEGE PARK MD
1548Z WED SEP 30 2026
12Z NWS model production is running on time with 12
Alaskan...26 Canadian...41 CONUS...13 Mexican...10
Caribbean...and 9 Pacific stations available for ingest.
UPDATED 12Z GFS RAOB RECAP...
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
72694/SLE - No report for the NAM...Full report in for the
GFS
72712/CAR - No report
72764/BIS - No report
72768/GGW - No report
72786/OTX - No report
74455/DVN - No report
91413/YAP - No report for the NAM...Full report in for the
GFS
70308/SNP - 10159
70361/YAK - 10159
72274/TWC - 10159
72327/OHX - 10142...Ground equipment failure
72493/OAK - 10142...Ground equipment failure
76256/GYM - 10159
78384/GCM - 10142...Ground equipment failure
76654/MZL - Short to 526mb
78016/BDA - Missing Part TTBB
MDS STATUS...
GOES-E MDS Sector 1 will be centered over 39.9N/95.3W from
1343Z to 01/1400Z. GOES-E MDS Sector 2 will be centered
over 32.8N/100W from 1343Z to 01/1400Z. Both of these
sectors are in support of excessive rainfall and severe wx
ops across the Central and Southern Plains.
Kempisty/SDM/NCO