Afternoon AVHRR
Nighttime AVHRR (from the night of 100)
noaa-16 at 1754
noaa-14 at 2026
noaa-12 at 2102
From the OPS Center
Weather GENERAL OVERVIEW
The weather situation for 0000 UTC, Wednesday, April 11 is shown in
the 24 hour
forecast depiction . The frontal boundary presently approaching the
northern
Yellow Sea will have moved toward the SE and passed the Cheju area
according to
present expectations. Dusty conditions will prevail over the Yellow
Sea, and
cloud amounts and depths will be limited. The frontal zone will continue
to move
toward the ESE, and frontal-passage conditions could prevail in the
vicinity of
Iwakuni at the expected return time of the C-130.
The situation at 0000 UTC on Thursday, April 12 is shown here. The frontal
boundary discussed above will have passed southern Japan, bringing
high surface and
column dust amounts to a broad region north of 30 N. Scattered clouds
are
expected behind this frontal boundary, and surface winds from the NW
at both the
ship's location and the area around Cheju. Increasing cloudiness as
the day goes
on is also possible in the northern Yellow Sea area, caused by the
development
of an elevated low pressure area.
DISCUSSION
Propagating disturbances along the front could change its orientation
and
significantly alter the weather in the area. This is unlikely to be
a concern until after
Wednesday evening, and we will closely monitor both this situation
and the
development of a rapidly-advancing system in north central China shown
schematically on the 48 hour forecast above.
SUMMARY
Conditions are expected to be generally favorable for the C-130 flight
planned for Wednesday, April 11. It is anticipated that the aircraft
will
encounter strong winds and the potential for both turbulence and precipitation
during its
passage through the frontal zone. It is anticipated that the Twin Otter
would
fly next on Thursday, April 12, and it is very likely that aerosol
plumes of interest will be
accessible then, both to the Twin Otter and the C-130.