WEBVTT

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Before a go for launch is given, launch day weather is carefully studied and analyzed, to ensure a safe, successful journey for the Atlas V rocket.

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Launch Weather Officer Joel Tumbiolo, with the 45th Weather Squadron at Patrick Air 
Force Base in Florida, joins us now.

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Glad you could be here with us, Joel. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

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Could you explain to our viewers what we look for in the weather for a successful launch?

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Well, the main areas that we look for in terms of weather, the first being lightning, being that we're 
not in the middle of the summer,

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that concern is a little bit less; but if we do have summer launches, we have those daily afternoon thunderstorms that we always have to worry about.

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Luckily, that is not going to be the case for this launch. The second thing is the wind.  That 
will be a concern for this launch,

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as we always deal with cold fronts moving through and windy conditions, so the wind speeds are a main factor.

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For this particular launch, we need a wind speed of less than 33 knots.

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So we're going to be watching that closely.  And third is the clouds. Now, we're concerned about how thick the clouds are,

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where they're located in reference to the flight path, and things of that nature.  So lightning, winds, and then clouds are our main issues.

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Tell us how the weather is looking for launch day. Well, we've just mentioned the wind.  That's really going to be the main issue.

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Our next cold front -- we had a cold front move through a couple of days ago.  We have our next one coming through on Wednesday morning.

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And the clouds and wind associated with that cold front -- there is a satellite picture showing the cloud system over the central U.S.

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right now, and that is moving towards us; and by the time we get to Tuesday, the cold front will be located over the Florida Panhandle

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and our winds will start to increase out of the south and they will be in the mid-20s; and, again, we need a wind speed

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of less than 33 knots -- that's around 35 miles an hour -- for the launch to go. So we're going to be watching that closely.

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And, also, the clouds associated with the front that is moving in, we're going to see how thick the clouds are.

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With those two factors, we're still looking at an 80 percent chance of good weather for the launch, so we are very optimistic.

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If the launch were to delay one day, that cold front is going to be closer, the winds are going to be higher, and the clouds

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are going to be thicker, so we're only going to be looking at a 40 percent chance of good weather for the next day if that would be the case.

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But if we go on Tuesday, right now the weather is looking very promising.

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Well, here's hoping that we go on Tuesday.

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That's right.

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Thank you so much for joining us, Joel, and good luck on launch.

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Thank you.

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