Unlike
any other group, the Thunderstorm Project people leave Florida
to seek winter quarters. The operational portion of the Project
folded its wings in Orlando September 20. Special equipment
mounted in Black Widow P-61 airplanes for this Project was
removed during the week of September 23. The SCR-658 and SCR-584
units, as well as meteorological equipment used in the surface
stations, will be dismantled during the two weeks following
the closing of the project.
Much
data has been compiled during the operative season. From May
1 to September 20, rain fell over our network on 111 days.
Ninety-one storms were chosen for detailed analysis. The SCR-658
stations (radiosonde-rawin) made 435 releases and the SCR-584
stations (radar-rawin) made 289 releases. The P-61’s
flew missions with a total of 554 traverses through thunderstorms,
17 through convective cumulus clouds and 11 on other assorted
types of flights.
The
surface and upper air personnel had many interesting experiences
during the summer. Manifold frogs, snakes and rats accidentally
or deliberately found their way into automatic recording instruments.
A frog, jumping up and down in a rain gage, gave a very queer
trace. Radiosonde balloons encountered a number of unusual
meteorological conditions. One balloon was tossed up and down
between 14,000 and 17,000 feet for 32 minutes within a thunderstorm.
Quite a few balloons were forced down due to heavy rain and
icing conditions.
During
our airplane operations, one pilot reported heavy snow while
flying a thunderstorm. Another plane was tossed over on its
back twice during single traverse of a thunderstorm. Super-cooled
water was encountered on numerous traverses.
During
the winter the Analysis Section will continue to work with
the compiled data – both surface and upper air –
with hopes of greatly increasing the knowledge of thunderstorms
before next summer’s operations. This work will be done
in the office of the Thunderstorm Project in Chicago, Illinois.
Personnel
who have collected surface data this summer are being transferred
elsewhere within the United States – heading for all
parts of the country until they are recalled to the Project
next spring. Some of them will continue to make rawinsonde
observations throughout the winter months at regular Weather
Bureau upper air stations. Radar personnel, plus members of
the SCR-584 stations are being organized to set up the Weather
Bureau’s first Storm Detection Program. This Project
is being organized in Washington.
The
second phase of the Thunderstorm Project will begin October
1. The Army portion of the Project is under the Air Material
Command at Wright Field, with the operating area located in
the vicinity of the Clinton County Airport, Wilmington, Ohio.
During the winter months, the administrative force of the
Thunderstorm Project will lay plans for next year’s
operations.
In:
“The BREEZE”, Volume 3, No. 9, October 10, 1946.
Pp. 3-4.
