On-Demand Radisosonde Observations to Aid Severe and Hazardous Weather Forecasting in the Southeast Texas Upper-Air Sparse Region

A large area of severe-weather-prone Texas has no coverage by the existing upper-air radiosonde network, including the Houston metropolitan area and southeast Texas. This has negative consequences in weather forecasting, particularly in convective and freezing precipitation situations. Using teams of undergraduates, an on-demand radiosonde launch capability has been developed at Texas A&M University in College Station, ideally situated in the upper-air data gap. Launches were requested by operational forecasters including the Houston/Galveston National Weather Service Office in two winter/spring seasons in potential severe and hazardous weather situations. The impact on the human short-term forecasting effort is examined in several case studies. The potential for wider data dissemination and assimilation into operational high-resolution NWP efforts is also addressed.