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Cold Temperatures at 500 mb over Hawai’i lead to heavy rains

Parts of the Hawaiian Islands have been placed under Flood Warnings on 4 March 2024 (Link). Part of the reason for these heavy rains is unusually cold air aloft, at 500 mb. The animation above (from the CSPP Geosphere site — a direct link to the animation is here) shows a... Read More

GOES-West PACUS sector Night Microphysics RGB over the Hawai’ian Islands, 1121 – 1556 UTC on 4 March 2024

Parts of the Hawaiian Islands have been placed under Flood Warnings on 4 March 2024 (Link). Part of the reason for these heavy rains is unusually cold air aloft, at 500 mb. The animation above (from the CSPP Geosphere site — a direct link to the animation is here) shows a characteristic color change in the Night Microphysics around the Hawai’ian islands as convective showers develop, from light pinks/whites to red. How cold are the temperatures at 500 mb that are helping support this convection?

Upper-air sounding at Lihue, 0000 UTC on 2 March and 1200 UTC on 4 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)

Soundings at Lihue at 0000 UTC on 2 March and 1200 UTC 4 March (above, from the University of Wyoming sounding site) show consistenly cold temperatures, at -14.7oC, although temperatures were warmer on 3 March, closer to -11oC. The 500-mb temperatures on 4 March at 1200 UTC were colder than all but <10% of the observations per the analysis below from the SPC Sounding analysis site.

Sounding statistics of 500-mb Temperatures at Lihue, Hawaii (Click to enlarge)

NOAA-20 NUCAPS profiles give twice-daily estimates of thermodynamic variables over the Hawai’ian islands. These profiles are an important data source over ocean regions where conventional data are otherwise rare. The analyses near 0000 and 1200 UTC on 4 March 2024, below, show the large extent of cold temperatures at 500 mb, with temperatures between -14 and -16oC just north of Kauai. Temperatures are warmer over the big Island of Hawai’i. Use NUCAPS profiles to monitor cold temperatures at 500 mb when unusual cold is ongoing.

Gridded NUCAPS temperatures at 500 mb, ca. 2340 UTC on 3 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)
Gridded NUCAPS temperatures at 500 mb, ca. 1200 UTC on 4 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)

The gridded NUCAPS fields above are from AWIPS. You can also access them at this RealEarth site, and at this site maintained by SPoRT. The animation below of imagery from the SPoRT site shows values from 1200 UTC 2 March through 1200 UTC 4 March. Colder air overspread the western Hawaiian islands on the 4th.

Gridded NUCAPS temperatures at 500 mb, 1206 UTC on 2 March – 1110 UTC on 5 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)

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Storage facility fire near Detroit

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm), Fire Mask (a component of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm FDCA) and Near-Infrared “Cloud Particle Size” (2.24 µm) images (above) displayed the thermal signatures associated with a storage facility fire — which was responsible for 1 fatality and... Read More

GOES-16 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, top left), Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm, top right), Fire Mask (bottom left) and Near-Infrared “Cloud Particle Size” (2.24 µm, bottom right) [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm), Fire Mask (a component of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm FDCA) and Near-Infrared “Cloud Particle Size” (2.24 µm) images (above) displayed the thermal signatures associated with a storage facility fire — which was responsible for 1 fatality and 1 injury (media report) — near Detroit shortly after sunset on 04 March 2024. The highest 3.9 µm infrared brightness temperature was 33.11ºC at 0201 UTC.

With a thin layer of mid-level clouds moving across the region, the fire signature was somewhat attenuated — so the AWIPS Color Table Ranges were adjusted to better highlight the feature: 3.9 µm image max/min values were set to 40/-30, with the 1.61 µm and 2.24 µm image max/min values set to 50/0.

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Eruption of La Cumbre (Fernandina) in the Galápagos Islands

GOES-16 (GOES-East) SO2 RGB images created using Geo2Grid (above) showed the volcanic cloud (lighter shades of cyan) resulting from an eruption of La Cumbre (Fernandina) in the Galápagos Islands on 03 March 2024. The thermal anomaly at the volcano summit — which first became apparent at 0550 UTC — appeared as clusters... Read More

GOES-16 SO2 RGB images, from 0500-2100 UTC on 03 March [click to play animated GIF | MP4

GOES-16 (GOES-East) SO2 RGB images created using Geo2Grid (above) showed the volcanic cloud (lighter shades of cyan) resulting from an eruption of La Cumbre (Fernandina) in the Galápagos Islands on 03 March 2024. The thermal anomaly at the volcano summit — which first became apparent at 0550 UTC — appeared as clusters of darker blue pixels.

A comparison of False Color RGB images and retrieved Ash products from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site (below) indicated that this particular volcanic cloud was entirely SO2-dominated, with no signature of appreciable ash content.

GOES-16 False Color RGB (top left), Ash Height (top right), Ash Effective Radius (bottom left) and Ash Loading (bottom right) [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-16 True Color RGB images from the CSPP  GeoSphere site (below) showed the hazy signature of the volcanic cloud during the daytime hours (although bright sun glint off the ocean temporarily masked its appearance).

GOES-16 True Color RGB images, from 1240-2250 UTC on 03 March [click to play MP4 animation]

===== 04 March Update =====

GOES-16 SO2 RGB images, from 0500 UTC on 03 March to 2350 UTC on 04 March [click to play animated GIF| MP4]

A longer animation of GOES-16 SO2 RGB images (above) showed that while the emission of a volcanic cloud continued into the following day, its areal coverage and SO2 concentration (inferred from the cloud’s color intensity in the RGB imagery) had diminished by the end of the day on 04 March. There was, however, notable dispersion of the SO2 cloud during the initial 24-hour period following the eruption.

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Plume of blowing ash from the Smokehouse Creek Fire and Windy Deuce Fire burn scars in Texas

A toggle between Suomi-NPP VIIRS False Color RGB and True Color RGB images (above) displayed the areal extent of burn scars from the  Smokehouse Creek Fire and the Windy Deuce Fire — which began burning in the Texas Panhandle on 26 February, as discussed in this blog post — at 1955 UTC on 02 March 2024. Surface reports... Read More

Suomi-NPP VIIRS False Color RGB and True Color RGB images, valid at 1955 UTC on 02 March [click to enlarge]

A toggle between Suomi-NPP VIIRS False Color RGB and True Color RGB images (above) displayed the areal extent of burn scars from the  Smokehouse Creek Fire and the Windy Deuce Fire — which began burning in the Texas Panhandle on 26 February, as discussed in this blog post — at 1955 UTC on 02 March 2024. Surface reports at that time were showing southwesterly winds with gusts of 30-35 knots at Pampa (KPPA) and Borger (KBGD).

GOES-16 Ash RGB and Split Window Difference (10.3-12.3 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) Ash RGB and Split Window Difference (10.3-12.3 µm) images (above) revealed a plume of ash (from burned vegetation and structures) that was being lofted from the burn scars by the strong SW winds — gusting as high as 41 knots or 47 mph at Borger, Texas — and transported across northwest Oklahoma to central Kansas. The ash plume (brighter shades of pink in Ash RGB and shades of yellow in the Split Window Difference imagery) passed over Gage, Oklahoma (KGAG), reducing the surface visibility to 7 miles at times; ceilometer data indicated that the base of the thicker ash layer aloft was in the 2000-4000 ft range (below).

Plot of surface observation data from Gage, Oklahoma [click to enlarge]

GOES-18 (GOES-West) and GOES-16 (GOES-East) True Color RGB + Nighttime Microphysics RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below) showed the ash plume (which was mixed with some smoke) as it was transported across Oklahoma and Kansas. The plume appeared brighter in GOES-16 True Color imagery, due to enhanced forward scattering later in the day — but in GOES-18 True Color imagery, the ash plume exhibited a darker appearance because of the absence of forward scattering during the afternoon and early evening hours. After sunset, the plume exhibited shades of pink — and clusters of darker purple pixels denoted thermal signatures of fire activity.

GOES-18 (left) and GOES-16 (right) True Color RGB + Nighttime Microphysics RGB images, from 1720 UTC on 02 March to 0030 UTC on 03 March [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

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