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SpaceX Starship Test Flight 3

1-minute Mesoscale Domain  Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) images from all 16 of the ABI spectral bands plus a Rocket Plume RGB (above) displayed signatures of the SpaceX Starship 3 rocket that was launched from the Starbase facility in Boca Chica Beach, Texas at 1325 UTC on 14 March 2024. During the first 4 minutes post-launch, the Stage... Read More

1-minute GOES-16 images of ABI spectral bands 01-16 and a Rocket Plume RGB, from 1324-1329 UTC on 14 March; KBRO denotes the Brownsville TX rawinsonde site [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain  Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) images from all 16 of the ABI spectral bands plus a Rocket Plume RGB (above) displayed signatures of the SpaceX Starship 3 rocket that was launched from the Starbase facility in Boca Chica Beach, Texas at 1325 UTC on 14 March 2024. During the first 4 minutes post-launch, the Stage 1 rocket booster’s condensation cloud was evident in images from all 16 spectral bands, as it began to drift slowly eastward away from the Texas coast — and the ascending rocket booster’s thermal signature was seen in Near-Infrared and Infrared spectral bands 04-16, as well as the Rocket Plume RGB.

In Band 8 (Upper-level Water Vapor) imagery, note the change in exhaust plume shape with time and atmospheric layer: at early altitudes of 20-50 km (where the Stratosphere had more density, and therefore higher ambient pressure), the Stage 1 booster plume was more linear — but after the 1328 UTC “hot stage separation” as the Stage 2 rocket reached higher altitudes of 70-80 km (where the Mesosphere was much less dense, with lower ambient pressure) the plume was able to expand outward into more of a curved “boomerang” shape beginning at 1329 UTC.

A close-up view using a sequence of three 16-panel displays of all GOES-16 ABI spectral bands (below) showed that a warm thermal signature of the hot stage separation process was apparent at 1328 UTC in Near-Infrared bands 04-06 and Infrared bands 07-16 (just to the right of center in each image panel).

16-panel display of all GOES-16 ABI spectral bands, every minute from 1327-1329 UTC on 14 March [click to enlarge]

Interleaved GOES-16 Mesoscale Sector and CONUS Sector Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images, from 1325-1332 UTC on 14 March [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

A larger-scale view using interleaved GOES-16 Mesoscale Sector and CONUS Sector Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images (above) allowed the Stage 2 rocket exhaust signature to be followed for about 7 minutes post-launch as it moved eastward across the Gulf of Mexico.

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Severe Weather over Kansas

Severe weather occurred over Kansas late in the day 13 March. SPC Storm Reports, shown below, indicate three tornadoes (as of 13 March) within a swath of wind and hail reports. The animation above shows the development of the strong thunderstorms along a warm front in northern Kansas. The tornado observations are... Read More

GOES-16 Clean Window Infrared (Band 13, 10.3) imagery, 2326 – 0331 UTC 13-14 March 2024 (Click to enlarge); surface observations and storm reports are also plotted.

Severe weather occurred over Kansas late in the day 13 March. SPC Storm Reports, shown below, indicate three tornadoes (as of 13 March) within a swath of wind and hail reports. The animation above shows the development of the strong thunderstorms along a warm front in northern Kansas. The tornado observations are plotted between 0046 and 0146 UTC on 14 March. They occurred within the Topeka KS CWA (WFO TOP) that is outlined in the animation above.

SPC Storm Reports, 1200 UTC 13 March – 1200 UTC 14 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)

30-second GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images with Local Storm Reports plotted in cyan, from 2300 UTC on 13 March to 0247 UTC on 14 March (courtesy Scott Bachmeier, CIMSS) [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

Overlapping 1-minute GOES-16 Mesoscale Domain Sectors provided imagery at 30-second intervals over northcentral/northeast Kansas — Infrared imagery covering the period when the tornado-producing thunderstorms occurred within the WFO Topeka County Warning Area are shown above. The default max/min Infrared enhancement Color Table ranges were changed to 55/-90 C, to better highlight the pulses of overshooting tops. Beginning around 0040 UTC, a distinct “enhanced-V” storm top signature was exhibited by the thunderstorm that produced the first tornado, south-southeast of Ft. Riley Kansas (KFRI) at 0050 UTC.

A larger-scale view using 1-minute GOES-16 Infrared images is shown below. Note the report of 4.00-inch diameter hail at 0110 UTC, just southeast of Manhattan, Kansas (KMHK).

1-minute GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images with Local Storm Reports plotted in cyan, from 2259 UTC on 13 March to 0700 UTC on 14 March (courtesy Scott Bachmeier, CIMSS) [click to play animated GIF | MP4]


What satellite products might have been used before this outbreak to better understand or anticipate it? The toggle below shows lapse rates (700-500mb and 850-700 mb) derived from gridded NOAA-20 NUCAPS profiles (source). Steep lapse rates exist over Kansas from 700-500 mb; convection that develops there will not be impeded by stability.

Gridded NOAA-20 NUCAPS estimates of Lapse Rates (850-700, 700-500 mb) over the central US, ca. 1850 UTC on 13 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)

Polar Hyperspectral Soundings can be fused with ABI data to blend the high spectral resolution Polar Data with the high spatial and temporal resolution of geostationary data. That thermodynamic information can then be assimilated into a high-resolution mesoscale model to give short-term forecasts that include better moisture information. Model output is here (this model is one of the products to be demonstrated at the Hazardous Weather Testbed at the Storm Prediction Center in late May and early June). What did model output suggest. The animations below shows Significant Tornado Parameter at 0100 and 0200 UTC on 14 March (from two consecutive model runs initialized at 2000 UTC and 2200 UTC on 13 March 2024, respectively). Both model runs suggest greater tornado probabilities within the TOP CWA, as was observed.

5- and 6-h forecasts of Significant Tornado Parameter (STP) valid 0100 and 0200 UTC 14 March, from a model run initialized at 2000 UTC 14 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)
3- and 4-h forecasts of Significant Tornado Parameter (STP) valid 0100 and 0200 UTC 14 March, from a model run initialized at 2200 UTC 14 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)

Animations of MUCAPE, below, valid at 0000, 0100 and 0200 UTC on 14 March, show the northward motion to the most unstable air through the Topeka CWA

Forecast MUCAPE fields at 0000, 0100 and 0200 UTC on 14 March 2024, from a model run initialized at 2000 UTC (top, showing 4-, 5-, and 6-h forecasts) and a model run initialized at 2200 UTC (bottom, showing 2-, 3- and 4-h forecasts)

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Thunderstorm produces giant hail in Campana, Argentina

10-minute Full Disk scan GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images displayed using RealEarth (above) showed the development of a thunderstorm that produced giant hail in Campana, Argentina during the evening hours (local time) on 12 March 2024.  An overlay of GLM Group Points depicted a good deal of lightning... Read More

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images with plots of GLM Group Points, from 2200 UTC on 12 March to 0100 UTC on 13 March [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

10-minute Full Disk scan GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images displayed using RealEarth (above) showed the development of a thunderstorm that produced giant hail in Campana, Argentina during the evening hours (local time) on 12 March 2024.  An overlay of GLM Group Points depicted a good deal of lightning activity associated with that particular storm. This thunderstorm activity occurred in advance of a cold front that was moving northward toward the area (surface analyses).

Note that the thunderstorm appeared to pass southeast of Campana — but a parallax correction of about 18 km to the northwest is necessary for a tall cloud top at that location, as shown at this site.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) image at 2330 UTC on 12 March, with a probe of the coldest infrared brightness temperature [click to enlarge]

A probe of the coldest 10.3 µm infrared brightness temperature at 2330 UTC (above) showed -85.2ºC — which was several degrees colder than that of the tropopause (-80.7ºC) in 1200 UTC rawinsonde data at Santa Rosa (below).

Plot of rawinsonde data from Santa Rosa at 1200 UTC on 12 March [click to enlarge]

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Update on the Smokehouse Creek Fire and Windy Deuce Fire burn scars in Texas

Two weeks after the Smokehouse Creek Fire and Windy Deuce Fire started in the Texas Panhandle — as discussed in this blog post — a comparison of Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and False Color RGB images along with the GOES-16 (GOES-East) Land Surface Temperature (LST) derived product (above) showed the extent of the burn scars from those... Read More

Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and False Color RGB images valid at 1845 UTC, with the GOES-16 Land Surface Temperature derived product valid at 1901 UTC [click to enlarge]

Two weeks after the Smokehouse Creek Fire and Windy Deuce Fire started in the Texas Panhandle — as discussed in this blog post — a comparison of Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and False Color RGB images along with the GOES-16 (GOES-East) Land Surface Temperature (LST) derived product (above) showed the extent of the burn scars from those 2 fires on 11 March 2024. LST values were 10-12ºF warmer in the core of the burn scars (upper 90s to 100ºF, darker shades of red) compared to areas immediately adjacent to the scars (upper 80s F to low 90s F, cyan to green). On that day the 2 fires were 89% and 94% contained, respectively.

A 30-meter resolution Landsat-8 Natural Color RGB image displayed using RealEarth (below) provided a more detailed view of the 2 burn scars.

Landsat-8 Natural Color RGB image, valid at 1720 UTC [click to enlarge]

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