NUCAPS: uncorrected sounding vs corrected sounding vs obs in SW ND

Here's a comparison of an uncorrected NUCAPS sounding vs a corrected NUCAPS sounding vs a nearby obs site in southwest ND.

First, the 19Z ob:

Next, the uncorrected NUCAPS sounding (~ 19Z). This one is better than NUCAPS sounding I looked at earlier near Rapid City. In this one, the sfc temp is ~ 68F, while the sfc dewpoint is ~ 57F. That's within a degree or two, which is not too bad.

Finally, the corrected NUCAPS sounding (~ 19Z), which shows a sfc temp of ~ 68F and a sfc dewpoint of ~ 59F. This represents a slight improvement over the uncorrected NUCAPS sounding, the end result of which is pretty close to the sfc ob. In this case, the biggest correction was to the dewpoint. I can see some utility to using the corrected soundings, but I'll have to look at more cases to increase my confidence in this product suite and in the data.

 
- Thomas Bell