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Tropical Storm Cristobal makes landfall along the coast of Louisiana

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) revealed low-level vortices that were pivoting around the analyzed center of Tropical Storm Cristobal as it approached the coast of Louisiana on 07 June 2020, making landfall at 2200 UTC. Wind gusts were as high as 57 mph in Louisiana and 64 mph in Mississippi.

GOES-16 Visible images with overlays of GLM Flash Extent Density (below) indicated that there was very little satellite-detected lightning associated with Cristobal.

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with overlays of GLM Flash Extent Density and surface reports [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with overlays of GLM Flash Extent Density and surface reports [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (below) showed numerous cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures as cold as -70 to -77ºC (darker shades of red) within some of the convective bands.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 Longwave Infrared Window (11.2 µm) images with plots of Derived Motion Winds (below) showed the broad low-, mid- and upper-level circulation of the tropical storm.

GOES-16 Longwave Infrared Window (11.2 µm) images, with plots of Derived Motion Winds [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 Longwave Infrared Window (11.2 µm) images, with plots of Derived Motion Winds [click to play animation | MP4]

Rich tropical moisture was being transported northward across the Gulf of Mexico by Cristobal — the Blended Total Precipitable Water (TPW) and Percent of Normal TPW product (below) portrayed a large area with TPW values in the 2.5-3.0 inch range, which represented departures of 175-200% of normal. This led to areas of flash flooding along parts of the Gulf Coast, with some locations receiving 4-8 inches of rainfall.

Blended TPW and Percent Normal TPW images [click to play animation | MP4]

Blended TPW and Percent of Normal TPW images [click to play animation | MP4]

The MIMIC TPW product during the period 03-07 June (below) provided a larger-scale view of the origins of the tropical moisture associated with Cristobal.

MIMIC TPW product, 03-07 June [click to play animation | MP4]

MIMIC TPW product, 03-07 June [click to play animation | MP4]

Categories: GLM, GOES-16, Heavy rain / flooding, Lightning, Microwave, Satellite winds, Tropical cyclones