Day 5 Weather

At this morning's pilot meeting, Most Excellent Contest Chief Meteorologist, Dan Gudgel, briefed that the Uvalde racing task area underlies an air mass that is moist and possibly moistening further.  This moisture, combined with a phenomenon he referred to as a "deformation axis" in the hill country north of Uvalde, may be the trigger for significant thunderstorm activity this afternoon.  Dan stated that there is good potential for thunderstorms to reach Uvalde with surface wind gusts as high as 35 knots this afternoon.  These winds will be from the north and contest management has reminded teams to review the local procedure for landing to the north.  John Good has expanded the finish rings for all classes to 15km and increased the minimum finish altitude to 3,000' msl due to the possibility of heavy weather as racers complete their tasks today.  Crews were advised to tie down their trailers.

Dan expects a maximum temperature of 97 f. today and 5-600 feet per minute thermals early in the afternoon increasing to 7-800 fpm later in the day.

"Captain Snifftastic" is up and doing his thing now.  The launch is set to begin at 1220.