Operations on January 15th, 2011

The Sounding Team:
The sounding team was stationed on the SUNY Oswego campus for the duration of the event.  The objective was to release rawinsondes to the north, in the core and to the south of the lake effect band in order to sample the environment inside and outside of the band.  The first weather balloon was launched shortly before 7 in the evening, when the band was to the north of Oswego.  The second launch occurred around midnight, with the core of the band right near the campus. The third and final balloon launch happened close to 2 in the morning, when the band shifted south and skies cleared on campus.

Meteorological observations were taken during the balloon launches in order to calibrate the rawinsonde to actual ground measurements, as well as between soundings.  Values such as temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction and precipitation were recorded every 15 minutes, whereas snowfall was measured at the top of each hour.  One thing worthy to note with the sounding data was that drier air was in place closer to the ground, which may have kept the intensity of the lake effect snow band somewhat in check.

 The Transect Team:
For the beginning of the night we had the cup anemometer fixed.  We then learned how tornado pods worked.  At around 5 PM we left to drop off three tornado pods to collect data.  The BBC crew followed us and taped our operations and interviewed Dr. Steiger.

Around 1 am we transected the band on 81 going towards Pulaski.  The band was very thin.  In fact, it was only 10 minutes of driving.  Then we picked up the tornado pods after they collected temperature, humidity, and pressure for about 6 hours.