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Hurricane Erick in the East Pacific Ocean

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-17

GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-17 (GOES-West) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed the well-defined eye of Hurricane Erick on 30 July 2019. Mesovortices could be seen within the eye on the visible imagery, along with periodic convective bursts within the surrounding eyewall region — and cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures as cold as -84ºC were associated with these convective bursts.

Prior to sunrise Erick experienced a period of rapid intensification, as seen in a Advanced Dvorak Technique plot from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below). Erick was classified as a Category 4 hurricane as of the 18 UTC advisory.

Advanced Dvorak Technique (ADT) plot for Hurricane Erick [click to enlarge]

Advanced Dvorak Technique (ADT) plot for Hurricane Erick [click to enlarge]

Around the time that the period of rapid intensification was beginning, a NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) image viewed using RealEarth (below) revealed a distinct eye around 11 UTC.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) image [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) image [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-17, NOAA-20, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS