The Griffiss Air Force Base, New York, WSR-88D (site identifier RMX) has been shut down as part of the full base closure. The Radar Data Acquisition (RDA) unit is relocating to Fort Drum in Montague, New York. WSR 88D operation will resume at the Montague site in October or November 1997.
The latitude and longitude of the new Montague site is:
| Latitude | 43° 45' 21" North |
| Longitude | 75° 40' 48" West |
A new RDA site identifier will be assigned to Montague, but that identifier has not yet been determined.
The GOES 10 satellite is still stable and operating in a "safe hold" mode as a NASA/NOAA and Space Systems/Loral team continue to investigate the cause of a Solar Array Drive anomaly.
Future status reports are available on the GOES Project home page at:
Comparisons with reconnaissance-derived intensities indicate that the Objective Dvorak Technique (ODT) provided to the Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) by the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies successfully analyzed Hurricane while over the Gulf of Mexico. The ODT agreed precisely with reconnaissance aircraft "ground truth" while the SAB's subjective intensity estimates and a prior version of an objective technique overestimated the strength of Danny. The Cooperative Institute scientists will continue to experiment with the ODT for the remainder of the Atlantic hurricane season.
The House Appropriations Committee marked up and reported out on the Department of Commerce Appropriations Bill on July 22, 1997. Chairman Rogers offered the following language stating that the Committee "expects National Weather Service (NWS) to continue operating and maintaining all data buoys and Coastal Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) stations currently funded by the NWS in fiscal year 1997". The issue of funding data buoys has been a continuing issue for the NWS. Some buoys funded from sources other than NWS were operated until failure in FY 1997. The failed buoys were then removed as a threat to navigation. However, NWS continues to maintain its base funded network.
Conference between the House and the Senate to work out spending differences may occur before Congress adjourns for the August recess, although it is more likely that the conferees will reconvene in September. The National Weather Service mark from the House is $458.2 million and from the Senate is $473 million.
