Severe convection « CIMSS Satellite Blog

Fatal tornado event in Japan

May 6th, 2012

MTSAT-2 6.7 µm water vapor channel images (click image to play animation)

Tornadoes are relatively rare in Japan, and the majority of them occur in association with tropical cyclones — but a tornado struck the city of Tsukuba, Japan on 06 May 2012, and was responsible for one fatality, over 40 injuries, and damage (rated F2 to F3) to nearly 500 homes and buildings. MTSAT-2 6.7 µm water vapor channel images (above; click image to play animation) showed that strong convection developed over Japan along the eastern periphery of a large upper-level low. The location of Tokyo Narita International Airport (station identifier RJAA) is overlaid on the images — Tsukuba is about 30 miles northwest of RJAA.

Also important to note on the water vapor imagery (prior to 05 UTC) was the appearance of a small area of lee waves immediately downwind of the Mt. Fuji area (just to the west of RJAA), suggesting the presence of a strong jet streak moving northeastward over the Japanese island of Honshu. A longer animation showed the development of a number of distinct cyclonic vortices, many marked by a pronounced warm/dry signature on the water vapor imagery. These vortices corresponded to individual Potential Vorticity (PV) anomalies; one of the stronger PV anomalies moved just south of RJAA and helped to initiate a new cluster of convection offshore toward the end of the long animation.

A closer view using MTSAT-2 10.8 µm IR channel images (below; click image to play animation) showed that cloud top IR brightness temperatures associated with the tornadic supercell quickly cooled to the -55 to -60º C range (darker red color enhancement), and exhibited subtle cold/warm thermal couplets and brief enhanced-V signature at 04:01 UTC.

MTSAT-2 10.8 µm IR channel images (click image to play animation)

MTSAT-2 0.7 µm visible channel images (below; click image to play animation) revealed subtle indications of overshooting tops, as well as a brief anvil plume (at 06:32 UTC). The hazy signature of a blowing dust plume was also evident just to the south and east of Japan.

MTSAT-2 0.7 µm visible channel images (click image to play animation)

The tornado was reported to have occurred at Tsukuba around 1 pm local time (05:00 UTC), with hail at Mito around 1:20 pm local time (05:20 UTC). The location of the tornado (T) and hail (H) are overlayed on a close-up view of the 05:01 UTC MTSAT-2 0.7 µm visible channel image (below), which showed a well-defined flanking line boundary of convection feeding northwestward into the parent thunderstorm.

MTSAT-2 0.7 µm visible image + Surface reports + Tornado and Hail report locations

Posted in MTSAT, Severe convection | No Comments »

Severe thunderstorms across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana

April 28th, 2012

GOES-13 sounder Total Precipitable Water derived product imagery

AWIPS images of 10-km resolution GOES-13 sounder Total Precipitable Water (TPW) derived product imagery (above) and the corresponding GOES-13 sounder Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) derived product imagery (below) showed that moisture (TPW values as high as 45 mm or 1.78 inches near Saint Louis, Missouri at 16 UTC) and instability (CAPE values as high as 4300 J /kg acorss southern Illinois at 20 UTC) was in place along and to the south of a quasi-stationary warm frontal boundary that was located from eastern Missouri across southern Illinois and southern Indiana during the late morning and early afternoon hours on 28 April 2012.

GOES-13 sounder CAPE derived product imagery

4-km resolution GOES-13 10.7 µm IR channel images (below; click image to play animation) indicated that thunderstorms developed in Missouri and southern Illinois, and then tracked east-southeastward along the warm frontal boundary. These storms produced a long swath of large hail and severe wind gusts, as can be seen by the SPC storm reports overlaid on the IR imagery. Later in the afternoon, some of the organized convection began to exhibit well-defined “enhanced-V” storm top signatures, which often denotes thunderstorms that are likely producing (or will soon produce) either large hail, damaging wind gusts, or tornadoes.

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

Greater details can be seen in a 1-km resolution POES AVHRR 10.8 µm IR image with overlays of METAR surface reports and cumulative SPC storm reports of large hail and damaging wind gusts (below). A long swath of hail and damaging winds can be seen, including one incident where a wind gust of 50 mph blew over an outdoor beer garden tent around 20:50 UTC (resulting in a number of injuries and one fatality).

POES AVHRR 10.8 µm IR image + cumulative SPC storm reports of hail and wind gusts

A compariosn of the 1-km resolution POES AVHRR 0.63 µm visible channel image with the corresponding 10.8 µm IR channel image (below) again showed great detail in the overshooting top and cloud top thermal couplet structure.

POES AVHRR 0.63 µm visible channel image + 10.8 µm IR channel image

A comparison of the 1-km resolution POES AVHRR 10.8 µm IR channel image with the corresponding 4-km resolution GOES-13 10.7 µm IR image (below) demonstrates the value of higher spatial resolution for detecting important cloud top temperature patterns. In this case, the coldest cloud top IR brightness temperature on the POES AVHRR image was -78º C, compared to -69º C on the GOES-13 IR image. Also note the slight northward parallax shift in the GOES-13 IR image.

GOES-13 10.7 µm IR channel image + POES AVHRR 10.8 µm IR channel image

Posted in AVHRR, GOES sounder, GOES-13, POES, Severe convection | No Comments »

Severe weather outbreak across the central US

April 15th, 2012

GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel images (click image to play animation)

A major outbreak of severe thunderstorms occurred across parts of the central US during the 14 April – 15 April 2012 period, producing widespread tornadoes, large hail, and damging winds (SPC storm reports). Noteworthy events included a tornado that produced EF-4 damage at Kanopolis Lake, Kansas, hail up to 4.5 inches in diameter at Randolph, Kansas, and a wind gust to 97 mph at Oskaloosa, Iowa. Six fatalities resulted from an EF-3 rated tornado that struck Woodward, Oklahoma.

1-km resolution GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel images (above; click image to play animation; also available as a QuickTime movie) showed a number of overshooting tops associated with some of the stronger thunderstorms. A large plume of blowing dust can also be seen toward the end of the animation, moving northeastward across New Mexico and eventually over the Texas and Oklahoma panhandle regions.

A closer look at a strong thunderstorm in northwestern Oklahoma using 0.63 µm visible channel images from GOES-15 (GOES-West) and GOES-13 (GOES-East) (below) showed the development of bands of inflow feeder clouds along the southern edge of the storm — this satellite signature is often seen prior to the time that a supercell storm is about to begin a period of intensification. GOES-13 was in Rapid Scan Operations (RSO) mode, providing images twice as often as GOES-15; this allowed the development of the inflow feeder bands to be more easily identified and followed using GOES-13. This particular storm went on to produce the large tornado that inflicted EF-3 damage in the Wichita, Kansas area.

GOES-15 (left) and GOES-13 (right) visible channel images

4-km resolution GOES-13 10.7 µm IR channel images (below; click image to play animation; also available as a QuickTime movie) revealed that a large number of storms exhibited well-defined “enhanced-V” signatures (an indicator that a storm has a high probability of producing tornadoes, large hail, or damaging winds). The GOES-13 satellite was placed into Rapid Scan Operations (RSO) mode, providing images as frequently as every 5-10 minutes from 15:45 UTC on 14 April to 01:15 UTC on 15 April.

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

Shown below is a sequence of five separate 1-km resolution MODIS 11.0 µm IR channel or POES AVHRR 12.0 µm IR channel images, with overlays of SPC storm reports of large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes within +/- 30 minutes of the image time. Many of the enhanced-V signatures were much more detailed in the higher spatial resolution IR imagery.

POES AVHRR 12.0 µm IR image + SPC storm reports

MODIS 11.0 µm IR image + SPC storm reports

POES AVHRR 12.0 µm IR image + SPC storm reports

MODIS 11.0 µm IR image + SPC storm reports

A display of maps of the University of Wisconsin Convective Initiation (CI), Cloud Top Cooling (CTC) rate, Overshooting Top (OT), and Overshooting Top/Thermal Couplet (OT/TC) automated detection products showed a good correlation with the map of plotted SPC storm reports (below).

UW Convective Initiation, Overshooting Top, and Thermal Couplet detections

Finally, a comparison of 375-meter resolution Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.64 µm visible channel, 11.45 µm IR channel, and 3.74 µm shortwave IR channel images centered near the Dodge City, Kansas (KDDC) area (below) showed a pair of well-defined “enhanced-V” signatures (with cold/warm thermal couplet IR brightness temperatures in excess of 25º C), which also exhibited anvil plumes extending downwind (to the northeast) of the vertex of each enhanced-V. The enhanced-V storm just to the southeast of Dodge City was producing a tornado and 1.75-inch diameter hail at the time of the VIIRS images. In addition, the IR and shortwave IR images revealed a number of southwest-to-northeast oriented swaths of cooler ground (lighter gray enhancement) due to heavy rainfall from the recent passage of thunderstorms.

Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.64 µm visible channel, 11.45 µm IR channel, and 3.74 µm shortwave IR channel images

Farther to the northeast, a comparison of 375-meter resolution Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.64 µm visible channel and 11.450 µm IR channel images (below) showed that the thunderstorms over northeastern Kansas, southeastern Nebraska, and southwestern Iowa were exhibiting well-defined overshooting tops, with packets of concentric anvil-top gravity waves propagating away from some of the strongest overshooting top features. The satellite detected a cloud top IR brightness temperature as cold as -85º C (purple color enhancment) associated with the overshooting top over far southern Nebraska.

Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.64 µm visible channel and 11.450 µm IR channel images

On a side note, it is interesting to point out that a 1-km resolution MODIS 6.7 µm water vapor channel image at 04:17 UTC (below) displayed an elongated north-to-south oriented wave packet from Nebraska into Kansas — and there was a pilot report of severe turbulence at a flight altitude of 31,000 feet over this water vapor wave signature. These waves were not seen in the corresponding 04:17 UTC MODIS IR image, implying that they were likely located within the middle troposphere (GOES-13 water vapor weighting function plot).

MODIS 6.7 µm water vapor channel image + Pilot reports of turbulence

4-km resolution 6.5 µm water vapor channel images from GOES-15 (GOES-West) and GOES-13 (GOES-East) (below; click image to play animation) suggested that this gravity wave may have formed in response to pronounced middle-tropospheric subsidence/drying related to the formation of a strong rear flank downdraft along the trailing edge of the thunderstorm that was located in central Kansas around 01:00 UTC (schematic diagram from Lemon and Doswell, 1979). This packet of waves generally remained quasi-stationary, but did begin to move westward around the time of the pilot report of severe turbulence. However, it is also possible that the severe turbulence was due to the aircraft’s proximity to a rapidly-developing thunderstorm in south-central Nebraska.