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.
Launch Weather Officer Joel Tumbiolo, with the 45th Weather Squadron at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, joins us now.
Glad you could be here with us, Joel. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Could you explain to our viewers what we look for in the weather for a successful launch?
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,
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.
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,
as we always deal with cold fronts moving through and windy conditions, so the wind speeds are a main factor.
For this particular launch, we need a wind speed of less than 33 knots.
So we're going to be watching that closely. And third is the clouds. Now, we're concerned about how thick the clouds are,
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.
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.
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.
And the clouds and wind associated with that cold front -- there is a satellite picture showing the cloud system over the central U.S.
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
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
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.
And, also, the clouds associated with the front that is moving in, we're going to see how thick the clouds are.
With those two factors, we're still looking at an 80 percent chance of good weather for the launch, so we are very optimistic.
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
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.
But if we go on Tuesday, right now the weather is looking very promising.
Well, here's hoping that we go on Tuesday.
That's right.
Thank you so much for joining us, Joel, and good luck on launch.
Thank you.