Severe HAil Verification Experiment (SHAVE 2006)

Operations Plan

Introduction

Facilities

Data Collection Team Duties

Daily Activities

Data Collection Strategies

Survey Information

Staff Logistics (internal)

Data

 

SHAVE Daily Activities

Daily weather discussion

A typical day during the project begins with the decision about whether or not to commence operations. On most days, this will coincide with the issuance of the SPC 1630 UTC (11:30 am CDT) Day 1 Convective Outlook. On Monday thru Friday, a short meeting will occur in the operations area at 11:30 am CDT to determine if operations will occur or not. This meeting should include, at minimum, the Project Director, Assistant Project Director, and the Operations Coordinator of the day. On weekends, this discussion may be done via teleconference or email. Several factors play into this decision, which may include:

  • if hail-producing storms will form in areas that can be surveyed
  • time of day of potential storms
  • potential storm types
  • staff availability or staff fatigue

They will also determine the preferred storm types for interrogation. Notification of whether or not operations will occur will be posted on the project web site by 11:45 am.

Operations

Participants should report to the operations area at the time specified in the notification message (probably 1pm or 2pm on a typical day).

Operations commence with storm availability. If there are storms on radar, then data may be collected. See Data Collection Strategies.

End of the operations day

The Operations Coordinator will call an end to operations based on several conditions:

  • it is getting late in the day in all of the areas that contain storms (past 9pm local time for the target area)
  • there are no storms in the CONUS and no more are expected to form
  • storms are located over areas where data collection is not possible
  • the staff is fatigued
  • intense operations are expected the following day(s)

The Operations Coordinator should make a log entry about the storms surveyed and any issues with operations during the day (ideally, they will be doing this during operations as well). If any major problems were encountered, they should notify the Project Directors as soon as possible, especially if the problems might affect operations on the following days.