This website works best with a newer web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is not supported by this website.

CIMSS Satellite Blog

MENU

Blowing dust in the Plains

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 Split Cloud Top Phase (11.2-8.4 µm) and Dust RGB images (with and without plots of surface reports) [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 Split Cloud Top Phase (11.2-8.4 µm) and Dust RGB images (with and without plots of surface reports) [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) Split Cloud Top Phase (11.2-8.4 µm) and Dust Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images (above) displayed signatures of blowing dust plumes — medium shades of blue in the 11.2-8.4 µm product, and brighter shades of magenta to pink in the Dust RGB — caused by strong winds in the wake of cold fronts moving southward and eastward  across the central and southern Plains on 09 June 2020.

A closer view of GOES-16 Dust RGB images over the Texas Panhandle (below) showed a localized pocket of dense blowing dust moving southeastward — it temporarily reduced visibility to 2 miles at Borger KBGD, moved across Interstate 40 east of Amarillo KAMA, and then reduced visibility to 3 miles at Childress KCDS.

GOES-16 Dust RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 Dust RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

On a larger scale, a longer animation of GOES-16 Dust RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below) showed the early stages of the initial southward surge of blowing dust over eastern Colorado, where wind gusts to 102 mph were recorded.

GOES-16 Dust RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 Dust RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

The corresponding daytime GOES-16 True Color RGB mages (below) showed the tan-colored plumes of blowing dust, in addition to a few smoke plumes (shades of white) from wildfires in Arizona, New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle.

GOES-16 True Color RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 True Color RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

Categories: Air quality, GOES-16, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images