
Weather outlook for tomorrow's launch
At
5:45 p.m. CDT, conditions should be
hot, very humid, breezy, and partly cloudy, with an
isolated shower or thunderstorm being the main weather threat.
The GFS soundings bracket launch time 4:00 p.m. (the one attached) and 7:00 p.m.so the likely launch-time environment is roughly:
- Temperature: 85-87F
- Dew point: 74-76F
- Surface wind: southeasterly around 15 - 20 mph, possibly gustier near showers
- Cloud bases: approximately 2,000 - 3,000 feet, lowering toward evening
- Instability: about 1,600 - 1,900 J/kg CAPE, enough for thunderstorms
- Precipitable water: about 2 inches, meaning any shower could produce a quick heavy downpour
- Severe-weather risk: low; the soundings show weak deep-layer shear, no meaningful tornado parameter, and "NONE" for the modeled primary hazard
What it will probably look like
Expect a
humid Gulf Coast sky with scattered low cumulus and some taller clouds inland or nearby. There may be plenty of usable breaks in the cloud deck, but a few cells could develop quickly during the late afternoon. Visibility should generally be good outside rain.
The atmosphere is
not strongly capped, especially in the earlier sounding, so daytime heating could trigger convection. By 7 p.m., instability actually increases slightly while inhibition also increases, suggesting storms may remain isolated rather than becoming widespread.
Launch implications
The biggest risks are:
[ol]
Lightning or electrically active clouds, even if rain is not directly over the pad. A passing shower producing brief strong gusts and low clouds. Southeast surface winds, which appear moderately breezy but not obviously extreme from these charts. Thick-cloud/anvil rules from thunderstorms elsewhere in the area. [/ol]
There is
nothing in these soundings that indicates automatic scrub. The baseline environment looks launchable, but it is vulnerable to a badly timed isolated cell. There is roughly a
60 - 75% chance of acceptable weather, with the uncertainty dominated by thunderstorms rather than widespread bad conditions.
The current broader forecast likewise calls for sun and clouds, breezy conditions, and a possible afternoon shower.
SpaceX's official page still lists the 90-minute window opening at 5:45 p.m. Central.
What will really tell the story is a radar and lightning check during the final two hours.
No, I don't care what CNN or Miss NOW said this time
Ad Lunam