Heavy rain / flooding « CIMSS Satellite Blog

Flooding along the Yukon River in Alaska

May 20th, 2013

Suomi NPP VIIRS 1.61 µm near-IR “snow/ice channel” images

A comparison of AWIPS images of Suomi NPP VIIRS 1.61 µm “snow/ice discrimination channel” data from 19 May and 20 May 2013 (above) revealed the areal extent of flooding along the Yukon River upstream of the Fort Yukon (station identifier PFYU) area in northeastern Alaska. Both ice and water are strong absorbers at the 1.61 µm wavelength, so they appear very dark on the images. The flooding along the Yukon River began as a surge of ice and water moved through the Eagle, Alaska (station identifier PAEG) area on 17 May, then continued downstream to produce major flooding in the Circle, Alaska area on 19 May (Circle is located about halfway between PAEG and PFYU). An ice jam had formed about 12 miles upstream of Fort Yukon, which then impounded the flow of ice and water that had flooded Circle, leading to the increased flooding seen upstream of Fort Yukon on 20 May.

A comparison of Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.64 µm visible channel, 0.86 µm “land/water discrimination channel”, and 1.61 µm “snow/ice discrimination channel” at 20:52 UTC on 20 May (below) showed how the 0.86 µm and 1.61 µm images can be used to identify the darker flooded portions of the Yukon River that are not apparent on the 0.64 µm visible image.

Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.64 µm visible channel, 0.86 µm “land/water” channel, and 1.61 µm “snow/ice channel” images

Posted in Arctic, Heavy rain / flooding, Hydrology, Suomi NPP, VIIRS | No Comments »

Flooding in metropolitan New York City

May 8th, 2013

Morphed Total Precipitable Water (click image to play animation)

The “cutoff low” system that had been slowly moving across the country for the past week spawned heavy rains which caused flooding in parts of the New York City (NYC) metropolitan area on the morning of 08 May 2013. The image above, of MIMIC Total Precipitable Water, showed a plume of moisture-rich air moving northwestward from the tropical Atlantic towards New York (in advance of the surface frontal system associated with the cutoff low). This region of enhanced precipitable water was seen on the previous day as well. The blended Total Precipitable Water Product (as described here) also showed a plume of higher-than-normal precipitable water air moving over New York City — values of 170+% of normal are over New York City, with a value exceeding 200% (in yellow) sits over the Atlantic Ocean.

GOES-13 6.5 µm water vapor imagery (click image to play animation)

High values of Total Precipitable Water were being been entrained by the circulation of the upper-level low, as shown in the animation of GOES-13 water vapor channel images above. The cyclonic circulation had drawn the moisture north and west into the NYC metropolitan region, and convection developing in the cyclonic flow was responsible for the heavy rainfall. A Suomi/NPP VIIRS 11.45 µm IR image, below, overlain with model-based 500-mb geopotential height fields, showed the strong convection and the cyclonic flow moving into New York. It is interesting to note that the southern tail end of the convection sat right over the Gulf Stream.

Suomi/NPP VIIRS 11.45 µm imagery

The GOES-13 satellite had been placed into Rapid Scan Operations (RSO) mode, providing images as frequently as every 5-10 minutes. Discrete convective cells with cloud-top IR brightness temperatures colder than -60º C (darker red color enhancement) can be seen developing and moving northwestward over the NYC area on 4-km resolution GOES-13 10.7 µm IR channel images (below).

GOES-13 10.7 µm IR channel images (click image to play animation)

A closer view using 1-km resolution POES AVHRR 0.63 µm visible channel and 10.8 µm IR channel images at 10:09 UTC or 6:09 AM local time (below) revealed the texture and shadowing of overshooting tops on the visible image, with cloud-top IR brightness temperature values as cold as -67º C (dark red color enhancement).

POES AVHRR 0.64 µm visible channel and 10.8 µm IR channel images

GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel imagery (below) showed the different bands of convection that developed offshore and moved inland across the NYC metropolitan area.

GOES-13 Visible Imagery (0.63 µm) (click image to play animation)

Posted in AVHRR, General interpretation, GOES-13, Heavy rain / flooding, POES, Suomi NPP, VIIRS | No Comments »

Thunderstorms producing heavy rain and flash flooding in Puerto Rico

May 7th, 2013

GOES-13 10.7 µm IR channel images (click image to play animation)

McIDAS images of 4-km resolution GOES-13 10.7 µm IR channel images (above; click image to play animation) showed the development of large thunderstorms that produced heavy rainfall (including 5.18 inches at San Sebastian) which led to flash flooding over parts of Puerto Rico (Local Storm Report) on 07 May 2013. Since their primary Doppler radar was out of service due to an upgrade to Dual-Polarization technology, the National Weather Service forecast office at San Juan had requested that the GOES-13 (GOES-East) satellite be placed into Rapid Scan Operations (RSO), which provided images as frequently as every 5-10 minutes (instead of the nominal 15-minute image interval). The coldest cloud top IR brightness temperature seen on the GOES-13 IR image sequence above was -69º C at 17:10 UTC.

Due to a full-disk scan at 18:00 UTC, there was a 30-minute gap between the 17:45 UTC and 18:15 UTC GOES-13 images. A timely overpass of the NOAA-19 polar-orbiting satellite at 18:03 UTC provided a 1-km resolution AVHRR 10.8 µm IR image during this 30-minute GOES-13 gap (below), which revealed that a new convective cell had rapidly developed over the northwestern portion of Puerto Rico (exhibiting a cloud-top IR brightness temperature as cold as -79º C).

NOAA-19 AVHRR 10.8 µm IR channel image

AWIPS images of the MIMIC Total Precipitable Water (TPW) product (below; click image to play animation) showed that an elongated plume of high TPW (50 to 60 mm or 2.0 to 2.4 inches, darker orange color enhancement) was rotating across the Puerto Rico region during this period, providing ample moisture to fuel the development of deep convection and heavy rainfall. Surface analyses suggest that the eastern portion of the TPW plume was associated with the remnants of a cold frontal boundary, while an impulse over the Caribbean Sea was helping to transport higher TPW values from the south (TJSJ is the station identifier for San Juan, Puerto Rico).

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product (click image to play animation)

Posted in AVHRR, GOES-13, Heavy rain / flooding, POES | No Comments »

The effect of heavy precipitation on rivers in Illinois

April 21st, 2013

Total observed precipitation during the 07-21 April 2013 period

The middle part of April 2013 brought periods of very heavy rainfall to portions of Illinois and the Upper Midwest region, with many areas receiving 5-7 inches of rainfall. A map of the 14-day total observed precipitation during the 07-21 April period (above) shows the widespread distribution of the heavy rainfall, which was 4-5 inches above normal and 300-400% of normal at many locations for this time of the year. Additional information can be found at the NWS Chicago and NWS Lincoln sites.

The effect of this heavy rainfall was very apparent in a before (05 April) and after (21 April) comparison of 250-meter resolution MODIS false-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images from the SSEC MODIS Today site (below) — obvious changes can be seen in the width of sections of the Illinois River (which runs fron northeast through southwest across the center of the images) and many of its tributaries. 138 river gauges were reporting moderate to major flooding levels on 21 April.

MODIS false-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images from 05 April and 21 April 2013

AWIPS image comparisons of the standard 0.64/0.65 µm visible channel with the corresponding 0.86 µm visible channel from the VIIRS and MODIS instruments (below) show that the 0.86 µm imagery can be useful for helping to monitor the areal coverage of significant water inundation following heavy rainfall events such as this. Rivers, lakes, and flooded areas show up as darker features on the 0.86 µm images.