Today’s severe weather event saw at least 30 radiosonde flights over eastern Alabama and Georgia. During a normal weather day you might see four (two from Birmingham and two from Peachtree City).
Why so many? It was all part of the National Severe Storms Laboratory PERiLS program (Propagation, Evolution, and Rotation in Linear Storms). From the website, “PERiLS will use a sweeping array of instruments in an effort to better understand how tornadoes form in squall lines. These types of tornadoes, more common in the southeast United States, pose a significant challenge to meteorologists and emergency managers, due to their rapid development.”
Two of the iMet4 radiosondes landed in Harris County but there could be even more. My tracking system is designed to only track two radiosondes at the same time. Needless to say my system was overwhelmed with all the radiosondes in the air at the same time today.
