Up and running...

At the beginning of the day we monitored the SATCAST product to make sure the data delivery was consistent. No problems were observed until the 1915 UTC update when no data arrived. The 1932 UTC data arrived on time, but the 1915 UTC never came in. The rest of the day performed well so we assumed this was a one time issue. More detailed subjective analysis of the product's performance will be noted in the days to come as we have more chances to look at it.

Following the EWP daily briefing at 2pm, we were given the opportunity to show the EWP forecasters the simulated satellite imagery, lightning threat and severe hail probability that are being provided to the EFP participants. We took about a half hour to explain how the products are developed and what they show and the forecasters seemed very interested and would like to seem them prior to the EWP IOP starting at 4pm. Following that, we all participated in the EFP daily briefing, where we again explained the simulated satellite and lightning threat output to the ~35 people in the room. EFP participants, particularly in the aviation forecast team, expressed interest in using at the lightning threat for their forecasts. The severe and QPF forecast teams have already been looking at the simulated satellite imagery.

2000 UTC SPC day-1 outlook
The EWP IOP began immediately following the EFP daily briefing focusing on the area covered by SPC's moderate risk of severe over the TX panhandle and SE CO (see image above). One team acted as the Pueblo WFO, while one acted as the Amarillo WFO. Unfortunately, an abundance of cirrus was over the area, so demonstration of the UWCI and CTC products was extremely limited. The OTTC product was monitored during warning operations and a few detections were seen. Feedback captured from the Pueblo WFO group indicated the OTTC detection provided them with additional confidence in determining the threat of severe within ongoing convection. The Amarillo WFO group did not have any OTTC detections over their area and, once again, back-to-back 30-minute scans around 0 UTC severely affected the ability to evaluate the product. Towards the end of the IOP, GOES-R visiting scientists discussed with the EWP coordinator about delivering satellite data into their WDSSII end-to-end storm tracker to be combined with radar and lightning data to depict the entire life cycle of a convective storm. This would be a valuable tool to work on in the near future.