ARL Weekly News – August 12, 2022

Recent Events

Riverside County Alert for a railcar carrying styrene on August 11, 2022.

HYSPLIT Supports Response to Railcar HAZMAT situation near Riverside, California

An overheated rail car carrying styrene was monitored by NOAA Weather Forecast Office (WFO) San Diego beginning on August 11, 2022. A local evacuation order was issued, affecting over 170 residents. Sections of Interstate 215 shut down near Perris, Calif., and the area Metrolink trains were also closed, disrupting commutes.

WFO San Diego provided multiple SPOT forecasts, along with a HYSPLIT dispersion model, and updates to Riverside County Fire in support of the HAZMAT incident near Moreno Valley, California, that began Thursday, August 11 and lasted through Friday, August 12.

 

WMO Activities and Committees

Temple Lee was selected to serve on the World Meteorological Organization’s Scoping Planning and Organizing Committee for the Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Demonstration Campaign, which will be held in 2024.

Conferences and Events

GMU Conference on Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Modeling.

Alice Crawford, Tianfeng Chai, and Fantine Ngan attended the 26th Annual George Mason University Conference on Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Modeling which took place from July 26 through July 28 at George Mason University. Alice Crawford gave a presentation titled “Evaluation of Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Model Ensemble Output.” Tianfeng Chai gave a presentation titled “Power Plant SO2 Emission Estimation Using Aircraft Measurements and HYSPLIT Dispersion Modeling.”