11 January 1999 -- GOES-8 3.9 Micron Shortwave IR
Lake Effect Snow Bands in Western New York

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This loop of GOES-8 3.9 micron shortwave IR imagery shows the movement of Lake Effect Snow (LES) bands over Lake Erie and Lake Ontario on 11 Januraly 1999. Portions of the Lake Ontario band were becoming glaciated, and exhibited colder cloud top temperatures (brighter white enhancement); the water droplet composition of the non-glaciated portions of the cloud band appeared warmer (darker gray enhancement) due to the fact that water droplets also reflect incoming solar radiation at the 3.9 micron wavelength.

The small red "+" on the 17:15 UTC image shows the location of Oswego State University, where a web camera took this photo at 17:14 UTC, looking northeast. This photo shows what it looks like under the cirrus anvil on the northern edge of the LES band, which the 3.9 micron IR imagery shows as glaciated. Lighter snow was falling from this "leading anvil" portion of the snow band (thanks to Jim LaDue, NOAA/OSF, who saved this image from the Oswego State University WeatherCam).

Back to the 11 January 1999 Lake Effect Snow page