Ticker for May 18, 2000

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
May 18, 2000       May 18, 2000       May 18, 2000       May 18, 2000


O We of Little Faith

When the Kenton Mesonet station reported an 87 mph wind gust shortly
after 4:30 pm yesterday, even a few of us at OCS were skeptical of such
a large value.  Despite very gusty surface winds behind yesterday
afternoon's dryline, 87 seemed a bit much.

However, thanks to a little bit of serendipity and a close look by the
Mesonet's quality assurance manager, we can confidently say that the
observation was true.

As part of OCS's OASIS project,
( http://climate.ok.gov/programs/oasis.html )
the Kenton site just happens to contain
some additional instrumentation and datalogger capacity.  This allows
the recording of maximum wind gusts at three levels: the standard ten
meter observation height, plus nine meters and two meters.

The results?

At 4:35 pm yesterday, the exact time that the Mesonet prop-vane at ten
meters observed the 87 mph wind gust, the two-meter cup anemometer
observed a maximum gust of 70 mph.  Moreover, the nine-meter cup
anemometer observed a gust of 94 mph!

Based on this like-instrument intercomparison (one of several quality
assurance procedures employed at the Oklahoma Mesonet), the observation
stands validated, and the entire Ticker staff stands corrected.