RISE-26 Pre-Season March 4-7
RISE-26 is high Resolution Intelligence into Storm Environments, a crowd-funded severe weather research mission under Project WeatherEye. We launch weather balloons for high-resolution soundings, deploy mobile ground probes, coordinate with chasers, and stream real-time data and video to build detailed pictures of storm environments from surface to upper levels. Live skew-Ts, severe indices (CAPE, shear, helicity), and balloon tracking go up instantly at WxEye.org.
Our main 2026 field season runs late April through early July. This March 4-7 window is a pre-season test to train the team, test gear, and refine procedures.
The Storm Prediction Center shows an active pattern.
Wednesday (March 4):
Isolated to scattered severe thunderstorms afternoon/evening from north-central Texas through southeast Oklahoma into northwest Arkansas and far southern Missouri. Main threats: large hail, isolated severe wind gusts. Early supercells possible with MLCAPE 1500-2000 J/kg and solid shear, then lines with wind potential. Low tornado risk.
Thursday (March 5):
Slight risk across southern/central Plains with a focus on Texas. Scattered severe storms afternoon/evening. Large hail, severe gusts, couple tornadoes possible near dryline in west Texas moving east into Oklahoma. Supercell-friendly setup with ~40 kt shear and ~1500 J/kg MLCAPE. Overnight elevated hail farther north. This may be the big day for RISE-26’s test mission! This classic Tornado Alley zone is perfect for visuals, line of sight signal testing, and storm observation with good road networks and navigation.
Friday/Saturday (March 6-7):
Strong upper system ejects into central High Plains Friday with moist unstable air Texas to lower Missouri Valley. Scattered storms upscale to supercells with tornadoes, large hail, severe winds. Peak potential north Texas across eastern Oklahoma to eastern Kansas/northwest Missouri. Saturday: cold front southeast with scattered to numerous storms and marginal severe threat.
Funding update: GoFundMe at $20,000. Thank you! Project costs over $150,000/year with many dedicated people helping this season. We still need support—please donate if you can.
We'll launch soundings and test data probes. View live probe data (when active) and soundings at map.WxEye.org or WxEye.org homepage for balloon tracker/sounding viewer.
