Also with us today is Captain Paul Lucyk, the weather officer for the NOAA-N launch. Thanks for joining us, Captain.
Thank you, Tiffany. It's great to be here.
Can you please tell us how the weather is looking for launch day? Explain how it affects NASA's decision to launch.
Sure, I'd be glad to. On the night of launch, my weather team and I will monitor multiple
constraints throughout the count.
Several of these constraints are established to protect the vehicle against natural and triggered
lightening and also monitor constraints for precipitation which could damage the vehicle during
the ascent and fly-out, as well as surface winds that are essential for the safety of tower rolls, fueling and lift off.
Now, if any of these constraints are violated, NASA, along with the 30th Space Wing and Boeing,
will establish either a hold or a potential scrub.
Looking at our satellite imagery, I can talk a little bit about the forecast. We have a low
pressure system just off to the northeast corner of California and into the southeastern of Oregon.
That low pressure system brought a frontal system through here this morning, and behind that
frontal system, we have high pressure building in. That high pressure is going to serve to
tighten our pressure gradient and allow our winds to increase throughout the day tomorrow,
afternoon and into tomorrow evening. That is going to be our primary concern for launch, is those surface winds that I just mentioned.
Now, looking at our launch forecast at T-0, it calls for stratocumulus clouds in a few scattered
areas from 1,000 to 4,000 feet. Our visibility will be unrestricted and we'll have temperatures
in the low to mid 50s. We won't have any significant weather in the area other than those gusty winds.
We are expecting winds from the north from 20 to 25 knots at T-0. But as I said, we'll expect to
see higher winds in the afternoon for tower roll. We are expecting about 35 knots tomorrow
afternoon, so overall probability of violation before T-0 is 40 percent.
Should we have to scrub and go into a longer time frame, looking at 24 hours out, our forecast
calls for much of the same conditions. We do expect some gusty winds again on Wednesday
afternoon, which again will present a problem for tower roll. But we do expect those to subside
once we get into a -- later on in the count. We will expect winds from the north, again 18 to 22
knots.So our probability of violation for a 24-hour scrub is 20 percent.
Looking beyond that, the high pressure will build in more significantly and that will loosen the
pressure gradient and bring more favorable weather for later on in the week. Tiffany?
Thank you so much, Captain, and good luck with the launch.
Thank you.