North American Monsoon Experiment (N.A.M.E)

Jay McCoy

Jay McCoy

EF5
Joined
Dec 6, 2003
Messages
1,205
Location
Amarillo, Texas
I was reading the Amarillo discussion when they talked about a project they will be apart of starting immediately. has anybody else heard of this project. The AMA NWS discussion said

F.Y.I. AMARILLO UPPER-AIR SITE WILL BE PARTICIPATING IN THE NORTH
AMERICAN MONSOON EXPERIMENT (NAME) THROUGH AUGUST. AN INTENSIVE
OPERATIONS PERIOD (IOP) HAS BEEN DECLARED...WHICH MEANS THAT UPPER-
AIR SOUNDINGS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON A 6-HOURLY BASIS STARTING WITH
TODAYS 12Z SOUNDING AND RUNNING THROUGH THE 9 JULY 12Z SOUNDING.
THIS COULD BE EXTENDED FURTHER AS FUTURE INTENSIVE OPERATIONS ARE
DECLARED.

FCSTID = JORDAN

I wish they would have done these soundings during chase season

the link to the project page is

http://www.joss.ucar.edu/name/
 
I'm excited about it. There is much to discover.

Not to mention...today is July 7!! That is the "typical" start date of Monsoon, although more of a marker date. We will need three 55 degree dewpoint (54 for Tucson) days, consecutively, for official start of Monsoon here in Arizona.

And there is a change in the air. I noticed it yesterday morning. (and I'm not making it up just because I'm excited LOL).
 
Originally posted by Susan Strom
I'm excited about it. There is much to discover.

Not to mention...today is July 7!! That is the \"typical\" start date of Monsoon, although more of a marker date. We will need three 55 degree dewpoint (54 for Tucson) days, consecutively, for official start of Monsoon here in Arizona.

And there is a change in the air. I noticed it yesterday morning. (and I'm not making it up just because I'm excited LOL).
Click to expand...

Suuuuure, Susan. Those monster storms are just around the corner.... ;)

I hope you haven't purchased a new camera body, lens, or other chase equipment recently. If so, you may have single handedly :shock: delayed the arrival of tropical air by several weeks.

There is a mysterious natural force, susupected to be a variant of the notorious Butterfly Effect, that is well known among amateur astronomers. Buying a new scope or eyepiece, or significantly improving an existing instrument, invariably induces overcast night skies. The duration of the anomalous weather is directly proportinal to the time, effort, and money expended. Several years ago I single handedly plunged half of California into a fog bank by overhauling my scope! It took three weeks for normal weather to return.

It seems entirely possible, perhaps likely, that similar forces may curse storm chasers. Beware! ;)

-Greg
 
Greg wrote:
Suuuuure, Susan. Those monster storms are just around the corner....
Click to expand...

It's the Cloudbuster avatar! It's going to steer the storms around Tucson and into Phoenix :p

I hope you haven't purchased a new camera body, lens, or other chase equipment recently. If so, you may have single handedly delayed the arrival of tropical air by several weeks.
Click to expand...

"Dear Monsoon,"
I'm too busy right now to chase you. All my cameras are broken and I'm not going to fix them. In fact, they melted in the Willow Fire. Plus I'm going out of town. So don't bother coming to Arizona because I have better things to do. I'm quitting chasing to become a rock star. Doesn't even matter, la la la. Bye. <wink> :p
 
"Dear Monsoon,"
I'm too busy right now to chase you. All my cameras are broken and I'm not going to fix them. In fact, they melted in the Willow Fire. Plus I'm going out of town. So don't bother coming to Arizona because I have better things to do. I'm quitting chasing to become a rock star. Doesn't even matter, la la la. Bye. <wink> :p
Click to expand...

LOL!! :p


(In a conspiratorial whisper)

Wow, it's working. :notworthy:
Today's dewpoint shot up to 52 degrees. Dark clouds are filling the sky. Who-hoo!

(Edit)
THUNDER! LIGHTNING!!
:toothy7: :blob5:
You're GOOD, Susan. Not even UPS can deliver lightning to order.


-Greg
 
The First Rule Of Funding (As Practiced By Labs Everywhere):

Your project must have a cool acronym, and it doesn't matter how many meaningless buzzwords you throw in.

NAME is ok. Project KICKASS (Kilometer Intensive Convective Kilojoule Assessment of Storm Structure) is better. Congressmen dig acronyms!
 
Seems to be true. Never heard of this "North American Monsoon" ... in most literature it is referred to as the Mexican Monsoon since really all the US sees is the very edge of the monsoon's effects... in fact here at EPZ it is often referred to as the Pseudo-Monsoon.

Although technically, all a monsoon really means is a seasonal wind shift. Here in El Paso it tends to come and go at first, and even later in the summer we can see breaks. We've already had "monsoonal" thunderstorms here last week which the people in the NAME project apparently weren't interested in as they never requested an IOP. Weak flow aloft, a few east pushes at the surface bringing in low-level moisture. No flow aloft to advect in drier air, so for a few days we just kept mixing out the low-level moisture, which was constantly replaced from moist outflows from mountain storms... this moisture recycling eventually led to pretty deep moisture, and some incredible thunderstorms dumping hefty amounts of rain... 1-3" depending on where you were in the EPZ CWA. It also knocked out the EPZ radar for a few hours, and killed numerous Upper Air components, so we were sounding-less for a few days as the damage was tracked down... not an easy task when we're dealing with the 1940's-1980's technology NOAA's Upper Air program is built on! Often, the replacement parts (refurbs) don't work!

The typical monsoonal pattern here is typified by easterly mid-level flow aloft (similar to AZ), but with surface winds out of the SE. In July and August, out average wind direction is from the SE. It is from the SW and W the rest of the year (seasonal reversal). June and September are usually transition months. In Arizona, surface winds are usually Southerly, with a low-level moisture source being the Gulf of California. For El Paso, our low-level moisture will either come in off the Gulf of Mexico, or later into the season, from a "juiced up" interior Mexico.

So, Monsoon... what is in a name, really?

The First Rule Of Funding (As Practiced By Labs Everywhere):

Your project must have a cool acronym, and it doesn't matter how many meaningless buzzwords you throw in.

NAME is ok. Project KICKASS (Kilometer Intensive Convective Kilojoule Assessment of Storm Structure) is better. Congressmen dig acronyms!
Click to expand...
 
Hey Greg! How did you do tonight?
I did an I10 run...shot from SE of Tucson city limit, there were some cells within reach there. Got real wet too, when I stopped briefly near Congress Ave to fuss with radios. Kind of a deep strike for a Phoenician, but it was worth it :) Saw some colored lightning!

Yes Mike, I have eyed a few storms longingly across the border into Sonora but have not ventured. Lots of good hunting within AZ esp points north where I don't have to worry about border issues, but I do look. Sometimes they kick, don't they... LOL

I'm looking forward to findings of the NAME project.

Happy Thor's Day!
 
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