SATCAST within the GOES-R Proving Ground

Over the past two weeks, SATCAST has been brought into the Hazardous Weather Testbed for evaluation by the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the developer of the GOES-R Algorithm Working Group Convective Initiation (CI) algorithm. John Walker and myself have participated in the Experimental Forecast Program and we have learned a great deal on how to best prepare the CI algorithm for forecaster use and prepare for GOES-R.

Over the past two weeks, the SATCAST algorithm performed very well with average lead-times ranging from 15 to 45 minutes. In high CAPE environments, the algorithm was more diagnostic, however, GOES-R will be able to give high temporal trends to allow for more frequent cloud-top trends and give more lead-time for the algorithm. There were some things learned that need some improvement and we plan to work on those weaknesses over the coming months.