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Severe thunderstorms across Iowa and Kansas

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]

Severe thunderstorms affected much of the Upper Midwest on 11 July 2020 — and 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed two separate clusters of thunderstorms that moved southeastward across Iowa, producing large hail and damaging winds (SPC Storm Reports). The initial round of storms produced a curved outflow boundary across central and eastern Iowa — and several orphan anvils could be seen forming along this outflow boundary before the second round of storms arrived. Numerous pulsing overshooting tops were evident within each of the storm clusters.

The corresponding GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images are shown below. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were around -70ºC.

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 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in red [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in red [click to play animation | MP4]

For the second round of storms that developed in far southern Minnesota during the early afternoon hours, GOES-16 Visible images (above) and Infrared images (below) include time-matched plots of SPC Storm Reports.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with time-matched SPC Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with time-matched SPC Storm Reports plotted in violet [click to play animation | MP4]

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GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in red [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in red [click to play animation | MP4]

Farther to the southwest, severe thunderstorms produced a north-to-south swath of large hail (up to 4.0 inches in diameter) and damaging winds across eastern Kansas (SPC Storm Reports). 1-minute GOES-16 Visible images (above) and Infrared images (below) showed these storms, whose pulsing overshooting tops eventually exhibited infrared brightness temperatures of -80ºC and colder (violet pixels).

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with time-matched SPC Storm Reports plotted in violet [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with time-matched SPC Storm Reports plotted in violet [click to play animation | MP4]

Categories: GOES-16, Severe convection