February 19 & 20 update #2 Friday mid-day:

Well, the windy gods are having a time of it... at least we're not in England (70 mph gusts!).

The weather folks are all saying 15 sustained and gusts to at least 20 mph for Saturday, so we will NOT fly in Midland on Saturday.

Sunday is a GO, with much lower winds on Sunday, getting up to 6-8 by the end of the day. No rain in the forecast so the field will be dry at least. Set-up 9:30 on Sunday, fly as soon as we're ready to go.

Ken will be on site with us on Sunday as well, so bring your shopping lists.

See you all on the field!

TB/dr

OK, blame me, I did it...

Roy, Ralph, Ken and I have been having a chat about Saturday & Sunday.

Saturday is looking REALLY windy. Like up to 20 mph in the afternoon.

Ken is in MD, he's driving back Saturday afternoon, he'll be with us Sunday.

Here's what we're thinking. Unless the wind forecast changes for the better we may give this Saturday a miss so we can have a good day Sunday. I'll check the noon forecasts and we'll make a call on it and post to the website and FaceBook.

If we have to cancel Saturday we'll try and make it up in the next few weekends.

January 15, 2022 Launch Report

January has been a bit difficult with weather of one type or another, be it 4" of rain or 3 inches of snow, winds to blow you over or other freakish goings on, we've probably had it. We did manage to get a launch window in on January 15th before the ice came, here's Roy's detailed analysis of all the hullabaloo... click the "Read More" button!

Click to read more ...

January 15-16 Update (Wednesday evening)

Weather, weather, weather... everyone's lookin' at the weather!

So, writing this Wednesday evening, it's looking like Saturday is going to be reasonably decent if things don't speed up.

The bad stuff isn't supposed to get here until late Saturday, like 10 or 11 in the evening.

Sunday in all the forecasts looks like a washout. It's currently anywhere from an inch of snow (Accuweather) to 6" (Wunderground) by the end of Sunday.

Winds on Saturday are reasonable until after 4 PM or so, then shoot up sharply. The big unknown on Saturday is how fast the ceiling will drop with the approaching weather front.

Lastly, I have to be on a shoot Saturday morning, until about 1 PM. I hope to see you on the field after that.

Setup will probably be at 9, the earlier the better most likely.

Wish us all luck!!!

TB/dr

Weather update Thursday Night for 1/1/22

Weather update Thursday Night:

If you've seen the weather channel today you probably know what's coming...

USGS Rain Gauge at Belk says we've gotten 3/4" of rain at the field overnight. Not much drying because of the cloud cover tomorrow, then drizzle Friday night.

Predicted wind speeds are around 15 - 17 mph on Saturday and mostly cloudy. Then Sunday we get around 1.1 inches of rain and more winds.

we really don't think it's going to be any different for most of the east coast this weekend, it's this way all up the coast.

Ralph and I figure we reset to the regular weekend, January 15th & 16th.

Weather update for New Years Weekend as of Wednesday (12/29) evening:

Well, in answer to the previous FB post from Malcom and a phone call yesterday from Ken, it's not looking promising for us on the 2022 New Years weekend.

Me MIGHT be able to get Saturday morning in, but by Noon it's forecast for 17 mph winds and drizzle. Then Sunday there's close to an inch of rain and more wind, like 18-20mph. .

Yesterday they were predicting about 3/4" of rain for Saturday as well, but that's dropped away a bit and moving in later, about 6 PM.

I'll keep an eye on it but it's not looking great I must say. I wish I had better news.

TB/dr

Friday 9 PM Weather Update

OK everyone, this is where we are as of 9 PM Friday. The CLT airport area forecast is saying that even if it's not actually raining, overcast cloud layer is somewhere between 1100' and 600' AGL for the daylight hours. (See pix over on FaceBook) That's not nearly enough to allow anything but the small Estes stuff to fly. Rain is on and off all day, some saying that it'll be mostly dry for the middle of the day, some saying rain bands most of the day on and off. The most reliable site that I use is fairly pessimistic.

By Sunday rain is most of the day until mid to late afternoon.

Basically what it means is we reset for the 1st and 2nd and hope we get better conditions.

Really sorry for making the call but the weather is what it is, we can't do much about it.

TB/dr

Noon Friday Weather Update

UPDATE ON WEATHER AS OF FRIDAY NOON:

Well, a week ago it looked like a perfect weekend, now, not so much. There's conflicting weather reports for tomorrow and Sunday. Right now there's either going to be showers all day or not until the evening on Saturday and then on and off all day Sunday.

 

Here's what I think we'll try to do... If it's raining early tomorrow I will call the launch off for Saturday. If it's not raining in the morning then I say we push for a launch for Saturday only. We'll keep the setup small so we can strike in a hurry if need be.

 

As for Sunday right now I think it's going to be a wash for Sunday unfortunately. We'll definitely try for a New Year's day launch if possible.

 

PLEASE check here or the website in the morning before heading to the field! I will post as early as possible.

Thanks everyone,

TB

November 18th &19th Launch report

Roy Potter's back with his eminently readable Launch Reports, this time from November 2021's launch weekend. Press the "Read More" button to read, well, more obviously! dr

Click to read more ...

November launch was a blast, next up December 18th & 19th

November's launch went great thanks to the folks who came out and flew on one of the most beautiful November weekends I can remember. Winds were low, no one landed in Mr. Simpson's cow pasture (well, Paul put one farther down the road) and it was shirt-sleeve weather for most of the 2 days. 

Our next launch will be December 18th & 19th weather permitting. Keep an eye to the website and our Facebook page for updates. 

We're BACK at Midland NC!

Hey all you ROCC'ers, here it is, the long awaited announcement that we're back at the Midland field on November 20th and 21st.

I got an email from Ken that he'll be there at least Saturday so bring your shopping lists.

Setup will be at 10, flying at 11. We'll close down at 5 because of sunlight.

I was hoping to avoid the conflict with Hendersonville but they only fly Saturday so hopefully we'll see them Sunday.

Weather looks decent for the week so we hopefully won't have a rain delay to deal with.

See you there!

TB/dr