June 17 - Convection near both sites

NIPIKA

Calm before the storm

​The team at Nipika make a quick visit to site in anticipation of the upcoming precip. Selina, Jeremy and Aurélie arrived on site around 1600 UTC to ensure that the instrumentation was functional; battery voltages were checked, the time-lapse camera SD card was switched and data were downloaded (Parsivel, MRR2 and CR1000X). As it was a sunny and warm day, therefore observations were not necessary, freeing the group to  further ensure that the Parsivel was recording spectral data, and that the geonor capacity was adequate to the end of campaign. While driving back to Radium Hotsprings, the Kootenay Valley was adorned with towering Cumuliform clouds, the harbingers of thunder and a sign of atmospheric instability.

- Jeremy Morris & Aurélie Desroche-Lapointe

Field Participants: Jeremy Morris, Selina Mitchell, & Aurélie Desroche-Lapointe

FORTRESS

Prepping for the next round

André and Juris left BGI and arrived at Fortress around 0930 MDT to run a few errands with the hope to catch some scattered convection that was mentioned during the morning forecast provided by Jeremy and Aurélie.

Skies were blue when we arrived and we were greeted by Mel, the Fortress custodian. He gave us some tips to get the generator running again and lo and behold a few more pulls of the line and we had it running!

Cumulus clouds were just starting to develop to the southeast when we arrived. Juris worked on getting the time-lapse cameras up, while André worked on the MRR.

André made numerous trips to the clearing at Fortress Powerline to troubleshoot with the MRR computer. The goal is to have remote access to the MRR2, which will be important to ensure the MRR is functioning properly. He is working with Dr. Nicolas Kinar, who is advising and helping troubleshoot through the network issues.

At 1359 MDT winds picked up and rain began shortly after. We saw the cell approaching on the Strathmore radar. Rain was near horizontal coming from the west, but the cell quickly passed lasting only 10 minutes or so.

Another round of more sustained precipitation began around 1500 MDT. Radar showed storm direction from the northwest moving southeast, but on site precipitation was from the SW. Precipitation consisted of mostly drizzle or small rain droplets, but with moderate winds, it appeared heavier. The parsivel showed droplet sizes around 1-2 mm.

Precipitation ended at 2340 MDT and we departed shortly after the full data download.

​- Juris Almonte

Field Participants: Juris Almonte & André Bertoncini

Nipika

Fortress