7/14/02

Flight to Fort Luaderdale went well. All my stuff got there in fine shape including my kayak. I arrived at the Condo in Naples about 7PM. I took a sweaty walk about 4mi roundtrip to the gulf beach. It took me down 5th ave which has a lot of upscale shops and restaurants

7/15/02

I slept through my watch alarm. Having trouble getting up at 0500 EDT which is 0300 MDT. I took a short sweaty jog and had breakfast and then decided to try AOL forecasting links. It was 0730 and must have been a busy time on server because I couldn't download any of RAMS output. I'll try 0500 tomorrow when actual operations are planned. I tried in afternoon and it worked just fine.

I went over to the Nepals airport and talked to the FBO's about renting a plane to Key West. One plane had no overnight rentals(I want to go over in morning and return the next morning to avoid Cbs). One place had a two-week backlog. The other had only a Piper Arrow which cost $100/hr and I'd need morecheckout time. Finally I found a third place with a Cessna 150 at $69/hr with low use level. I arranged for a check ride at 1800h.

After spending $84 on groceries, I set up my kayak and paddled it up the Gordon river which is right behind the condo. Going up river use-level is low and it curves along through the mangroves. I saw egrits and some kind of white-headed hawk or falcon, fish jumping, and some nice houses, but not many. It was so darn hot and humid, that I was soaked when I got back. But it will be a convenient place to paddle.

At 1600h I had a check-out flight in a C-150. The owner of the FOB(Rex) gave me ground instruction and flight instruction. He was very good and gave me special instruction in procedures for operating in the Keys and in controlled airports in the region including Naples. We shot some landings down at Marco Island, and a couple of landings at Naples. I didn't have any trouble getting used to the plane and was glad to get spun-up in operating in the region. He seemed to know just what I needed for instruction.

7/16/02

I got up this morning and found out I made a major boo boo. I had put my kayak under cover of a ramp to the floating docks. I thought at the time that the tide would not
rise enough to let the ramp down on the kayak beneath-wrong! So when the tide went down enough I pulled it out and found two ribs were broken. So, riding into the NPOL site we stopped at Everglades City where I picked up some epoxy and duct tape and made 'field' repairs. I also took a sweaty jog down to the Gulf coast and back before going out to the radar.

The radar is located about 15' from a canoe trail into the mangrove swamps. It feels really hot and it is only 11AM! It must be in mid-80's with dewpoints about 78. Ugh! I made another fopaw in that I brought out my computer without its docking base and found I cannot connect into the network without the base.

1750 - cells east of Miami producing anvil advecting towards NPOL. Some towering cu 155@29nmi that may be possible candidates later.

1808 - directed P-3 to cells 35nmi to SE of NPOL. They are towering cu growing to 30K'.

1927 - We've moved P-3 to cells to the east which I took some pics of with tops to 46K'

2007 - Tops of cells to our southeast in center of peninsula are now over 50K' and P-3 and Citation, WB-57 and ER-2 are working it.

2103 - The Cb complex is dissipating rapidly and the anvil is drifting to the west quite rapidly. Proteus and the Otter have gone home.

2120 - Cirrus anvils visible to south and west of NPOL and Citation, ER-2, WB-57, and P-3 are working them.

2204 - Isolated cells near Cape Sable are topping out at 42K'

2212 - An isolated Cb near Fort Meyers has tops over 60K' with possible hail. Radar shows mesocyclone structure and a hail signature.

2236 - a rain shower moving over NPOL.

2247 - Well-defined outflow boundaries are evident. In fact one of them passed north through us and kicked off a weak shower.

2253 - Hans has decided to go chase the storm over Fort Meyers even though it is well beyond its peak.

2320 - I saw "Al" the local alligator floating in the canal near the radar.

Notes on soundings:

Tampa, Key West and Miami do 18Z soundings for period of experiment; special request one day in advance 12, 18, 21Z;

Parcel: 9,12,15,18,21 soundings on intensive days. Decision by Mace or Comstock.
Steve Gains or Rennie Selkirk has url for Parcel soundings. I guess it is an ftp site.

0002 - P-3 heading home.

7/17/02

My field repairs on my kayak worked and I took an hour paddle up the canals after I did my forecast. Some stretches are like a jungle with overhanging trees and no houses other parts have houses and yards along the way. It is very steamy and as I got further back in the canal, the houses got lower class, and so did the boats.

Today Hans is bring over the P-3 and that may be it except that the Citation may join us.I may go to Key West tomorrow and fly in the P-3.

1744 - some cells near Ft Lauderdale, one in interior east of center along Tamiami trail and a N-S line just NE of NPOL . Some other cells NW of NPOL and also east of Ft Meyers.

1809 - Cells NW of NPOL are the biggest topping out at 45-50K'.

1818 - For some reason surface winds are backing to 290@15kts, which RAMS didn't pick that up.

1856 - three gators near radar near a bunch of fisherman.

1931 - doing coordinated full volume scans and P-3 flights of storm NW of NPOL. Surface winds have come around to SW and S in agreement with RAMS.

1947 - anvils are streaming off to the SW. Storms near Lake Okeechobee are sending big anvils and shading the interior of peninsula. The storm to the NW of NPOL pulses in strength, and the P-3 is still working it.

2037 - P-3 is still working storm to NW of NPOL. They have been flying along its NW flank and are finally making their way along its east flank.

2046 - The cell to the NW of NPOL had now merged into a SW to NE oriented line. NWS has determined this storm is severe with hail, although NPOL signatures are not that well-defined and we are much closer to it.

2132 - P-3 returning due to Eldora failure. As forecast, anvils covering most of S Fla and streaming out to SW over Gulf.

7/18/02

My intention was to fly the C-150 down to Key West and then fly in the P-3. But, after untieing the C-150 and getting it started, I couldn't figure out how to set in waypoints on the GPS. Rex had gone over it with me, but with everything else to get familiar with, I couldn't get it set. Here I was idling the engine and fiddling away with the GPS just before sunrise, so I didn't have a lot of light to work with. Those darn GPSs are all different, and so I never could work it right. I had VOR but they don't give range and since I was flying to and returning to controlled airports plus having to deal with instructions from the Naval Air Station on Boca Chica, I felt pretty accurate position fixes were necessary. So, I bagged it as by the time people came in to the FBO(it was 0630), I wouldn't have been able to get on the P-3 since doors closed at 10:30 and I was looking at a 1.5h flight plus getting from Key West Airport to the Naval base. As a result I made an on the spot decision to take the local commercial carrier, CAPE AIR. I caught the 0825 flight and left word with Han's answering machine my arrival time. The plane is a piston-driven 8 passenger Cessna 402, and we climbed to 7000'. I chatted with the pilot who looked older than me and morfe like an old-time sailor than a pilot with his grey beard. Arrival was 0915 and the terminal they flew out of was a small shack. I then looked for Jerry Harrington who was supposed to pick me up. No Jerry, so I walked over to the main terminal-no Jerry. Well, maybe he didn't get the word from Hans so I walked over to the FBO. No Jerry. As I walked back to the main terminal I saw this long-haired guy with a big dude walking in the parking lot. He didn't get my e-mail from the day before or the changed plans from Hans. They were about to leave when I lucked out in finding them. He was looking in the wrong place for CAPE AIR and had I flown myself we probably wouldn't have connected at all.

As it turned own, there were showers with lightning all around Key West and especially over the Keys to the north so it was probably good that I didn't fly myself. I might have had to turn back anyway.

At 1415 I met with Hans and Sue, got suited up and found a pair of heavy duty shoes that fit, and got on the plane in the rain at 10:30 EDT. After holding at runway we got off at 1515 and now are flying over S Fla somewhere while technicians are trying to fix ELDORA.

1554 - Still no Eldora.

1615 - They rebooted Eldora and it is now up and running. We're headed to a Cb line that was given to us by Zipser.

1638 - Flying along near a not very impressive line of towering cu and Cbs. The onboard displays are not very informative. EDORA displays this tail slice through the storms that doesn't give you much perspective and the nose radar has this wide-angle view that isn't very useful either. Looking out the window gives the best view of the storms, but only for very close-in storms, since there are many towering cu that get in the way.

1653 - Citation has come in to join us. I can hear Mike Pellott.
I guess one of the reasons that the realtime displays are not as informative as usual is that the CAPI displays are not working. If they get it working I'll see if that improves the perspective.

1712 - The clouds look very disorganized with cloud bits floating around at all levels. Once in a while we see a tower poking up but they look real soft on top. I didn't see Ray's forecast this morning but the sounding must have been very moist and CAPE must have been low; perhaps around 1500J/kg?

1737 - tops to-30's. Just a bunch of clouds at various levels looking out the window.

1400 - Thick anvil cirrus covers all of south Florida cutting down on insulation substantially. The cu continue to look very soft and widely spaced.

1705 - What would be ideal is to be able to up-link a base NPOL scan to the P-3w to give them a better perspective on what is going on. In liu of that I will try to give them regular overviews of the convective organization or lack thereof. If we see on satellite or radar evidence of new developments then we have to inform the P-3 as heads-up for future flight patterns.

1730 - We're still plowing through clear air with thick cirrus anvil above. Great views of the southern Everglades and Whitewater bay. But after touring this same area for several hours-boring!

1750 - We are now going to fly up and down the west side of the westcoast seabreeze line from Everglades City to Ft Meyers.

1914 - The line we're working is aligned 150-330. So far it is composed of towering cu and they are not anviling out yet.

1939 - First evidence of a brightband.

1957 - We are flying near towering cu in the Fort Meyers area.

2002 - The Cb west of Fort Meyers that we're boxing has developed a nice anvil.

2012 - We're heading south toward Naples offshore of a line of convection just inland.

2025 - We're light stratiform rain from the anvils of the Cbs near us near Naples.

2100 - Working cells south of Naples. Visibility at flight level is poor; must be very humid here.

2109 - Once the storms go full Cb status, you can't visually see anything. They really need more perspective descriptions from ground.

2126 - Flying back and forth between Marco Island and just east of NPOL. Numerous cells in the area. Some exhibiting a double anvil structure
.
2133 - The radar is scanning slowly and data quality is now suspect. The plan is to head back to Key West.

7/19/02

1707Z - I caught the CAPE AIR flight after taking a sweaty jog with Jerry and having breakfast with him. The only incident was after landing I couldn't find the key to the condo and Zipser had turned in his key on a slot at the office. After calling for help a workman was found who could get into the office and retrieve Ed's key. I then found I had left the key in a pair of pants I had left behind.

The P-3 is now ferrying over and the ER-2, and PROTEUS are also up. Convection is widely spaced with some cells near Miami, some W of Fort Lauderdale, and the biggest cells east of Fort Meyers where we have directed the P-3.

1754 - Mostly scattered towering cu over the center of Peninsula SW of NPOL. More Cbs and towering cu to east of Ft Meyers. Certainly not an active day so far.

1820 - Continued scattered towering cu still in area. Some 40-42km to the east of NPOL; some 80km to N and east of Fort Meyers where P-3 is flying.

There is to be a TRMM overpass and plans are to get as much insitu and lidar/radar data as possible.

1812 - Trying to get the P-3 working a line 40km to our east and aligned NNE to SSW west.

1819 - We've called the Twin Otter to the southern end of the line and sniff around the S, SE, SW peripheral to sample the aerosol in the inflow air.

1953 - The P-3 has worked their way northward on the north side of the biggest cell of the line.

2017 - This is a pretty unimpressive storm to have all these planes flying over and along, and below.

2030 - RAMS definitely over-predicted the strength of the storms around. The atmosphere has dried out considerably, and the visibility is much better than I've seen it yet.

2040 - It seems that the P-3 is off the southern tip of the peninsula tracking what they call cirrus but what we think is radar chaff that the military dropped since it is not on satellite but only on radar.

2112 - The clouds are dissipating and the soundings show significant drying throughout the afternoon. No much of a day.

2117 - P-3 has decided to RTB(return to base).

7/20/02

Today was a down day for all aircraft. I think the crews needed a break as the flights are very long. I took advantage of it to sleep in until 630 and then to do my laundry. I find it hard to be enthusiastic about doing anything outside when it is so hot and humid. The weather saps my energy like a sponge. Finally I got myself to load up the kayak and drive south along the gulf coast in Naples where I found a beach access. My thinking was that it should be more comfortable in the open water rather than in any of the canals and backwaters where breezes are absent. So, I paddled out into the Gulf and headed south to Keewaydin Island. It is a long and narrow island with sandy beaches and palms, palmetto, and pine trees back from the beach. There is a little development on the north end but not much since there is only private ferry access, and as far as I can tell no bridges-great. The island heads south almost to Marco Island(a GOD awful, snooty, high-rise community). Part of the Island and east of it is Rookery Bay Aqauatic Preserve. A narrow channel that is part of the Intracoastal Waterway is on the east side of the island. I'll have to paddle along it on a day off.

Anyway I paddled south along it and watched some frigate birds gliding overhead and some pelicans skimming the waves near me. About mid island I went on shore to pee and found lots of shells along the beach. It was fairly comfortable heading south as I was paddling into the light southerly winds. However, heading back north, my paddle speed about matched the light winds and I began to perspire. I was drenched from sweat and felt extremely hot. I'd stop paddling every so often to take a drink, but it was darn uncomfortable. On the way south I encountered a kayaker in an open kayak heading north and talked to him briefly. It looked like he might have over-nighted to the south as he had a large dry bag behind him. After 2 hours or so, I returned to the car beaching in the light surf without a problem.

I returned to the condo and took a brief swim in the pool and after lunch took a siesta. It is now near 6PM and I am contemplating going for a run on the beach but it still must be 88 with a 78 dewpoint. Hard for me to do anything!

At about 7PM I finally committed to a run. I ran back streets to the gulf and ran the beach to Naples pier and then back. I sure get disgustingly sweaty.

7/21/02

I drove out to the radar site with my kayak on top and paddled down the canal near the radar about 4miles and then back. I saw a couple of gators, and a few birds but less than I expected. Bugs weren't a problem as I paddled fast enough that they couldn't keep up with me. It was fun and only very hot at the last end, when the sun was high and winds were still not much and what they were, were on my back.

1702 - The P-3 should be off about now. The convection is starting off rather slowly. An east coast line of cells is moving westward, none very large. The deepest cells are inland from Ft. Meyers, where they are topping out around 30K'. Another weak cluster of cells in at the NPOL 30degree radial and 60km range.

1713 - We've given the P-3 coordinates to the deepest cells near Ft Meyers.

1754 - I've had them move north-south from Ft Meyers to Naples(26deg 14'; 81deg 42'). The southern most cell has a top over 52K' and exceeds 50dbz.

1857 - Best storms are still east of Naples and north to east of Ft Meyers. The P-3, Proteus, B-57, and Twin Otter are all profiling those storms.

1908 - Cells parallel to west coast seem to all be weakening at the moment.

1925 - Best cells still east of Ft Meyers. All are fairly weak with tops about mid-30'sK'.

2048 - I haven't been able to raise the P-3 for most of the afternoon on Sat-phone. They plan on a micro intercomparison on cell near Cape Sable. There is also a line of cells oriented N-S in viscinity of Immokolee and south.

2117 - I've finally made telephone contact with the P-3 and they are heading south now to the cell near Cape Sable.

2151 - The Cape Sable storm has moved out over the Gulf. The P-3 is taking its time getting there.

2222 - Pretty nasty looking storm just SE of NPOL. It exhibits a well-defined mesocyclone, and visually dark inflow bands.

2250 - the storm to our immediate east is part of a massive line of cells extending from the North central part of the peninsula to SW of NPOL.

2257 - P-3 is RTB.

7/23/02

1708Z - Made my forecasts, and then ran to Naples beach and to the Naples pier and back this morning. Then after breakfast I drove to Everglades National Park at Everglades City and paddled across the bay and attempted to circumnavigate Sandfly Island. But, I never found the return pass and in fact was almost out to the Gulf when a ranger came by in a stinkpot and I flagged him down and asked him where the turnoff was. He indicated I had passed it. I had been working against the current all the way out so it was slow going. Going with the current I still never saw the turn off so returned the way I came. I saw a few birds(snowy Egrits) and one bottlenosed dolphin just at the beginning in the bay. I returned after over 2 hours of hard paddling without a break drenched in sweat as usual. I hosed down the boat and me too!

Now it is back to the radar, which is only 5 miles away from the Park.

1739 - Some scattered small cells moving with the east coast seabreeze front NW of Miami and near lake O. Otherwise nothing on radar yet. We still have an hour until the P-3 takes off.

1755 - I gave Sue a briefing before takeoff. Just scattered cells NW of Miami, some 80NE of NPOL, and one cell 30km NE of NPOL. The dry layer at 800mb or so is killing the smaller cells.

1740 - Sent the P-3 to a Cb northwest of NPOL.It is topping out over 42K' and producing a visible anvil.

1840 - The Cb has died and there is not much to send the P-3 to now. I've given them waypoints for some cells that may have potential, but overall there aren't many options now.

1924 - WB-57 is making a nice contrail as they are heading westward toward PARCL.

1937 - WB-57 went right overhead and shut down Ken Sassen's lidar which has a radar that shuts down the lidar when an aircraft goes overhead to prevent blinding the pilot.

1950 - gave P-3 position of cells SE of Ft Meyers one is just east of Naples.

2002 - The WB-57 went over a cell near Lake Okeechobee topping out at 50K'.

2037 - Cells along the west coast NW of us are decaying. Nothing seems to be perking up. It may be hard to figure out where to send the P-3.

2048 - Called P-3 with an update. Cells along the coast from N Naples to Marco Island area seem to be dissipating. Another cell due southwest of us about 20km has tops to 42K' and is a small cluster. It is totally over the Gulf.

2115 - I looked at RAMS forecast sounding for 0Z over NPOL and it has a pronounced dry layer from 700 to 500mb which fits what is going on outside.

2140 - Storms continue to weaken and coverage of storms by radar is the least since I've been here. The P-3 is considering RTB and plan on a down day tomorrow to repair the radar.

2153 - It looks like the P-3 has gone north to Ft Meyers and attack those cells. They aren't very deep or big but that is all there is.

2159 - P-3 is RTB over and out.

7/24/02

Today is a down day. So, I took a jog along Naples beach and then drove to North Naples to Delnore-Wiggins Pass State Park and paddled my kayak along the Gulf coast and also in a pass and followed a short canoe route. I saw more birds today than I have so far. Pelicans just covering the trees, egrits, and some kind of sea hawk. I returned sweaty as usual. I plan to work on our NSF proposal this afternoon.
I had dinner and beers with Starr and Sassen. The is the first time I have gone out to eat so far. The restaurant is open and overlooks the Gordon river looking toward the north side of the island in the river where my condo is located.

7/25/02

Today is an early flight day with the estimated TO time for P-3 of 10:30AM. I only had time to take a sweaty jog and got to the radar by 0915.

1343 - Some showers over the central Keys and just running off our radar to the west of Naples. Some showers out of our range off Andros Island in the Straits. I haven't been in touch with Sue or Hans yet to determine what they are up to.

Since the P-3 was taking off later than I expected I took a drive along a couple of dirt roads heading north from the Tamiami trail to our east. I saw some large lilly-family flowers in about 3-4" of swamp water and waded out to take pictures of them. Driving along the Turner river I saw a couple of gators and found some flowers that looked like orchids to me. I took pictures of all of them.

1610 - The P-3 is airborne and we directed them to work cells in the area of Marathon Key. The only other action is in Miami area associated with the east coast seabreeze.

1648 - P-3 is still working cells near Marathon and they are topping out near 50K'.

1708 - the cells SW of Marathon are weakening considerably, topping out at about 30K'. The east coast Fla seabreeze is moving westward rapidly and looks well organized. Nothing to speak of on the west coast. So far I've busted my RAMS-based forecast.

1713 - I advised the P-3 to a line of cells that I would call the SW extension of the FLA seabreeze, at 25 37N; 80 25W.

1732 - The cells over Keys have died, and the P-3 is heading to cells NE of Cape Sable.

1808 - The P-3 is working maritime cells about 30km to our SW.

1827 - I suggested the P-3 go up near Naples and S of Ft Meyers.

1918 - The P-3 is working a bow-echo line about 22km to our SE. Tops over 50K'.

1926 - radar went down but is now up again.

1936 - The bow echo line that the P-3 is shooting has tops over 50K'. Nice storm.

1955 - radar went down again. It is now up. I also had trouble contacting Sue, but just got thru to recommend flying the north side to compensate for attenuation.

2013 - NPOL is down again and so is Eldora.

2026 - Now running and I hope it keeps running through the entire volume scan. Hans is PO'd about the lack of cirrus measurement support with these storms. On the other hand, Dave Starr got called on the carpet with Don Anderson because he had the perception that the Stratus guys weren't getting enough missions. Hard to please everyone.

2046 - The storm near Naples is now over 50K'. I have mixed messages as to whether the P-3, Citation, and Twin Otter will fly tomorrow.

7/26/02

The P-3 is not flying today. I expect there will be a big push to get in flights on the remaining three days.

I jogged to Nepals beach and paddled my kayak in Nepals bay before breakfast. It is about 3 miles long and 1.5 to 2 miles wide. I had one heart-stopping experience when I decided to head down the large waves from a passing stinkpot instead of into them. This would have been fine except it got me close to the concrete sea wall by one of those ritzy places and I found my self in waves reflected off the wall plus direct waves on my back so I had my hands full staying upright. I used whitewater kayakers bracing maneuvers.

I think RAMS did pretty well today. Precip was definitely concentrated north of NPOL to Fort Meyers. I may have tuned down rainfall accumulations too much as the amounts must have been approaching and inch or more in the showers I drove in. Why did it do better today than yesterday?

7/27/02

I took a jog and then called Hans this morning. He decided to scratch today since he wouldn't have any high-altitude plane support and felt he had enough data in these storms with the P-3 alone. I would have preferred to work today and leave early, but that won't work.

So I decided to go up to Sanibel Island. It has been about 30 years since we were there last. I drove the scenic route up which took me through a series of beach towns like Fort Meyers Beach and causeways and bridges too numerous to count. I saw a kayaker ahead of me near Fort Meyers beach pull off to paddle near a number of sandy keys near Ft Meyers beach. In retrospect I wish I had followed his example. By the time I got to the north end of Sanibel Island it was pushing 10:30 and the sun was high enough for me to lose interest in paddling out there with the sun beating down on my head. So, I took the tourist walks along the drive in Ding Darling National Wildlife Reserve. I had been there before but it was all different now. One of the longest walking trails was closed for repaving! It wasn't paved back then and why it had to be paved is beyond me. I enjoyed one of the boardwalk trails and saw many egrits and pelicans again. I then drove out to Captiva Island. I think there was no road access over there back in the 70's. I think they should have left it that way. The entire island is developed but thankfully not with highrises. I had asked the women at the visitor center about Captiva and how I remember it as being a virgin island. Boy, did I set her off. She said she had been marching out there with signs trying to stop development there. She really got into it and I certainly could agree with her.

I never did put my kayak in the water there and the sun was just too high by that time for me to get my energy level up enough to paddle in the heat. On the way over my portable kayak rack made such noises in the wind, that I decided it was time to take it apart and bag it since I probably wouldn't have much time to use it the last two days which would surely be flight days. So I found a shady spot at the visitors center and took it apart. It was probably a good thing since the larger of the repaired broken ribs fell apart in my hand so it wasn't providing any support at all. If I had gotten in some heavy waves I might have had a problem. By the time I had finished packing it up I was soaked in sweat again. It is hard for me to figure out why so many people want to live down here year-around. Winters are fine, but the summers are just too darn hot and humid to be any fun at all.

So I headed back to the condo taking the fast route along Highway 41. Highway 41 between Naples and Ft Meyers is just one strip mall as it is I'm sure further north as well. I guess I should be thankfull all these people are not living in Colorado. We have enough of them already!

7/28/02

1526 - I did my morning jog down to the beach again and after breakfast decided to drive along a Loop Road in Big Cypress National Monument. It is about 10 miles past the turnoff to the radar. The road is gravel and in many spots it has been repaired with crushed coral rock with chunks the size of a fist. I was a little worried about getting a flat tire. Here I was 10 to 15 miles off the main road and only saw one truck after driving in 20 miles at least. At first I drove for about 5 miles along a straight section that I couldn't see much but mangrove trees and bushed. Then I encountered a section where a river crossed under the road. The water was flowing swiftly and on both sides of the road there were large cypress trees. It is the prettiest spot I've seen in Florida. As I drove along, I saw three alligators along the road. They really moved fast when they saw or heard my car! Then I saw a deer. After that I saw three raccoons, three pigs, and a snake. I also some numerous birds, some reddish in color. I think it would be a good road to go birding.

1545 - My forecast for today was for a late start in convection and so far it looks like it will validate. I expect we will be here until after dark.

1656 - Some cells over the Gulf to the SW of Ft Meyers.

1721 - The Miami sounding has a pronounced inversion at 750mb at 12Z and 18Z. I wonder what dynamics are driving that?

1757 - Convection west of Andros is topping out at 50K' and producing extensive cirrus between 35-40K'. The cirrus is heading towards Fla.

1821 - Some cells east of Miami and Ft Lauderdale associated with the east coast seabreeze. I sent Sue and the P-3 to a small cell that is SW of the those cells since that is too close to the Miami Airspace. Unfortunately the cell looks very transient and maybe gone when she gets there.
1856 - I suggested cells near Cape Sable and the twin Otter is going there too, but we're having trouble with ATC giving clearance.

1913 - Don Anderson is on his way to visit us in the boonies.

1924 - Twin Otter is reporting CCN counts of several thousand per cc in the cluster near Cape Sable. The P-3 is flying around the came cells.

1938 - The cells have moved offshore and some of them have formed a NE to SW oriented line with tops to 34K' and 45DBZ reflectivities.

1953 - the cells are forming a bow echo line over the Gulf.

2002 - Tops of southernmost, more isolated cell of the cluster is over 40K'.

2028 - Sent Sue to a line of cells 30kt to our NE. Tops over 42K'.

2046 - Informed Sue that a cell a bit north of the NW part of the line is topping 50K' and suggested a "L" pattern to cover the line and that cell.

2058 - The line of cells we're concentrating on is putting out a nice outflow boundary visible on the radar. In addition, Rob had me display ZDR and the cell had supercooled drops penetrating well above the freezing level. When those drops freeze Ka-Boom!

2107 - P-3 ran along south of line and then headed NE to cover that big cell.

2113 - ELDORA is seeing anvil out of those cells now.

2125 - Satellite pics aren't showing a lot of cirrus. It may be a case to study to examine why it didn't produce a lot of visible cirrus.

2135 - This should be the best TRMM overpass case for the project.

2142 - The Citation is not able to get ATC approval to work anything in the area of storms we are studying so they have been told to RTB.

2149 - Sue reported that NPOL is down now for 12 min.

2215 - ELDORA is on.

2224 - The storm has now oriented parallel with the coast and runs from Marco Island to Ft Meyers. Tops of cells near Marco Island are over 55K' with 48DBZ reflectivities.

2239 - The convection is now moving off the coast. It is still topping out at 45K'. Reflectivities near Marco Island exceed 56DBZ.

2300 - The storms are beginning to weaken and I told Sue that it is time to RTB.

2306 - Jay Mace reports there was a Saharan dust layer between 10 and 15K' and there were high IN counts on the Citation. The dust layer may have been the cause of the inversion we saw in the sounding. This makes it an especially interesting day. Priority #1 as far as I'm concerned!!

7/29/02

Jogged Napals beach and then did laundry and washed dishes and cleaned up the condo before I checked out. I plan to find something in Fort Lauderdale tonight and try to catch the 0840 flight.

1438 - After seeing things very active over the straits associated with the easterly wave, the convection has died out all together. Not exactly the RAMS scenario which had convection going early over the peninsula and behind the wave, everything shutting down by mid-afternoon.

1448 - Ken Sassen just came in to report a dust layer between 3000 to 5000'. It is depolorized which he claims is consistent with Saharan Dust.

1500 - Things are sure quiet now. Every time it is disturbed, RAMS does poorly. The ETA analysis down here just is not doing well.

1556 - NPOL has been going down rather frequently today.

1618 - I suggested that Sue work the clouds in the Key West area as nothing is happening over S Fla.

1646 - I informed Sue that I could visually see some active cells over Marco Island and some small echoes north of Naples.

1717 - A storm topping out near 45K' is located near Ft Meyers Beach. I can't get Sue to stop playing in her sandbox near Key West and come up to some real clouds.

1728 - Contacted Sue and ELDORA is down but she is coming north to Ft Meyers where we have a cell over 50K'.

1802 - The P-3 is now working the east side of the cell and hopefully collecting data.

1810 - The P-3 is collecting data and I suggested doing an L pattern to get coverage of the anvil streaming out to the NW.

1827 - This is a good coordinated case with Proteus, B-57, ER-2, Twin Otter, and Citation all working it and collecting data.

1828 - The P-3 is heading west along the southern boundary of the southern cell.

1832 - tops of northern most cell is 55K'.

1850 - Sue is heading north along the cells near Ft Meyers and when she gets to the northernmost cell, will turn west to paint the W-E extent of the storm. The tops of the northern cell is 52K' and reflectivities are about 50DBZ.

1918 - P-3 is covering the northern flank of the storm.

1933 - P-3 is still working storm that is topping out to 46K'. She is going to follow a roughly 225 from its NE corner which should provide a good cross section of the anvil/cirrus.

1946 - P-3 did a run along the anvil. I asked if they saw a bright band but they didn't so we called off the Citation from a planned brightband spiral.

1953 - Sassen is still seeing Saharan dust between 5 and 10K' and seeing it being eroded by the boundary layer.

1959 - There is an interesting north-south band on the radar between 4 and 5K' that can be seen on NPOL and NEXRAD. It has continuity for several hours. Ken Sassen thinks it is a bug line. But it could be a chaff line as there are other features to the south that look like chaff.

2022 - ELDORA is down now and since they are planning to send other planes back to base, I told Sue to RTB.

7/29/02

End of project for me--Bill