January 2015 CSTAR High Shear Low CAPE Conference Call Notes
The call occurred on Tuesday, January 27th from 11AM to around 1150 AM EST
A gotomeeting video (mostly audio) of the call is also available at... http://goo.gl/lZ3aNK
Participants: From NC State: Dr Parker, Dr Lackmann, Keith Sherburn, Jessica King, Lindsay Blank, and Dianna Francisco. From the NWS: Seth Binau (ILN), Reid Hawkins (ILM), Steve Keighton (RNK), Kevin Laws (BMX), WFO MHX, Pat Moore (GSP), Steve Nelson (FFC), Chris Rohrbach (CAE), Kurt Weber (HUN) and Jonathan Blaes (RAH).
1) Welcome WFOs TAE and ILN
WFOs Tallahassee, NC (TAE) and Wilmington, OH (ILN) joined us for the first time on this Call. Alex Lamers and Parks Camp from TAE expressed an interest in joining our project over the fall and we sought out Seth Binau from ILN as that WFO has used provided some very good feedback on our previous HSLC efforts.
2) Research Update from Lindsay Blank
Lindsay provided a research update on her project focused on an operational NWP resolution and sensitivity study using HSLC event hind casts. At this point Lindsay was primarily looking for input on some sort of observational measure to verify the WRF against. The discussion during the call focused primarily on severe weather reports (LSR) which are known to have many limitations including spatial coverage and frequency. The current threshold which included EF2+ tornadoes was generally considered to be too high with several commenters noted that EF1 tornadoes are probably sufficiently reliable. There was also discussion on some sort of gridded field that could be used. Lindsay agreed to provide some additional details and a request for more input via the list server or blog. Lindsay also noted that the case studies completed during the previous CSTAR project were very helpful for her.
3) Revised Case List
The current HSLC case list which includes nulls is comprised of cases from 2012 and 2013. The NC State folks would like to expand the list of HSLC cases especially for the year 2014. If you have an event you would like added, please add it to the http://infolist.nws.noaa.gov/read/?forum=cstar_nc_state list server in the "HSLC Case Studies" thread. A list of current case studies is available via this Google Drive link... http://goo.gl/rUzK95. Please add your cases before the next call which is likely to be in mid February.
4) Regular Conference Calls Scheduling
A Doodle poll was created to identify a date and time for a standing monthly CSTAR HSLC conference call. Our hope is to schedule the call for a consistent day, the second Wednesday of the month for example. The poll can be accessed at http://doodle.com/igqrrra6y9ub2w4w, please complete the survey by Wednesday, February 4th. Thanks to the 16 folks who already submitted their input. It appears Tuesday may be a good option.
In the poll itself, it may be easier to select all options and then un-select ones with conflicts. To do this, on the Doodle poll page, press “Ctrl + A”.
5) Regular Conference Call Formatting
Keith led some discussion on organizing the regular monthly calls. The idea was to have a couple of students provide a 15 minute research update on their topic and then spend the last 30 minutes or so with NWS discussion points. It is expected that that formatting of the calls will vary but the goal is to keep the length an hour or less and provide some structure to them. Longer quarterly calls are also envisioned to provide more in depth updates and discussion.
6) New List Server Created to Promote Discussion
Based on feedback at the fall CSTAR workshop, we created a list server to support CSTAR activities with NC State University. We will be using the Lyris list server which most NWS folks have previously used. The list server can be accessed at http://infolist.nws.noaa.gov/read/?forum=cstar_nc_state. As a private mailing list, it is hoped that this resource will provide a mechanism for more organic, real-time, and frank discussions relating to the project. Our CIMMSE blog will still be used to share more polished science sharing. Thanks to the 33 folks who have already signed up, if you haven’t please sign up with the instructions below.
To join the NC State CSTAR List Server via the web …
* go to http://infolist.nws.noaa.gov/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=cstar_nc_state
* enter the required information
- your email address
- your name
- a password
* click on “Subscribe”
The administrator will need to manually confirm your addition to the group (this part of the process is not automated, so be patient, you will be added.) Additional information on using the blog including posting topics, changing the user password, user membership type, etc, is available via the PDF at this link... https://drive.google.com/a/noaa.gov/file/d/0B1K1lG7wfKxMbDYydDZlSzhlUmM/view?usp=sharing
7) AWIPS II Procedure
Pat Moore provided an update on the effort to create an AWIPS-2 procedure or set of bundles to be used in HSLC forecast and warning decision making. Pat is on the team along with Justin Lane from GSP, Hunter Coleman from CAE and Mike Strickler from RAH. They are working on initial discussions now and hope to have some additional details to share during the next call.
8) Collaborative Investigator (CI) Structure
There was some discussion about identifying NWS Collaborative Investigators (CIs) for each of the four sub projects which are shown below. The CIs were used successfully as a part of the last CSTAR effort to lead NWS activities, share workload, decentralize NWS activities from RAH, and provide professional development activities. A follow-up email will be sent by Jonathan to solicit CIs.
· HSLC Process Study Using Idealized Modeling and Emulated Radar Sampling (Parker)
· Operational NWP Resolution and Sensitivities Study Using HSLC Event Hindcasts (Lackmann)
· Predictability Study Using Ensembles and Dynamical-Statistical Downscaling (Xie)
· Operational Assessment of HSLC Forecasting Composite Parameters (Parker)
9) Need WFO SHERB Feedback Form/Survey Champions at Each WFOs
It was discussed and agreed that it would be helpful to have a person or persons at each WFO identified to serve as a SHERB feedback/survey form champion. These folks would remind, encourage, and wrangle local staff members to submit a HSLC feedback form whenever they work an event or non-event that has HSLC characteristics (even if it is a bit above the 500 J/kg threshold). Completing the assessment of HSLC events (or non-events) while your memories are still fresh is very important. It is worth noting that 6 WFOs have already submitted SHERB feedback/survey form. The survey is available at... http://www.meas.ncsu.edu/mdparker/sherb/feedback/ An email has been sent soliciting champions at each WFO. Once someone been identified, please pass it along to Jonathan.
10) Open Comments
· Dr Parker at NC State submitted a proposal to acquire funding to launch a limited number of atmospheric soundings from NC State during HSLC events and share them in near real time.
· Jonathan will work to gather a list of non-NWS organizations launching radiosondes and a contact person for each location. It is hoped that some sort of mechanism can be setup to notify operational folks of the availability of a special sounding and then ingest and display it into AWIPS. Kurt from HUN has expressed an interest in helping with this.
· If you are aware of any non-NWS organization launching radiosondes please pass it along. For now we are aware of ...
o UNC Asheville (Doug Miller)
o Oak Ridge Lab (David Hotz)
o Mississippi State (Kevin Laws)
o University of Alabama Huntsville
o Simmons AAF, Fort Bragg (Mr. Richard W. Butler, , Chief, Weather Station Operations)
o Potentially NC State (Dr Parker)