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1-minute GOES-18 imagery to monitor ongoing heavy rainfall in American Samoa

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute GOES-18 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, from 1100 UTC on 25 December to 1100 UTC on 26 December [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

As discussed in this blog post, heavy rainfall had continued across the Samoan Islands on 25 December 2023. The South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) remained in the vicinity of the Samoan Islands on that day (surface analyses) — and 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) showed additional pulses of deep convection that produced heavy rainfall over Tutuila and the Manu`a Islands of American Samoa. During the calendar day of 25 December local time (which is 1100 UTC on 25 December to 1100 UTC on 26 December), Pago Pago on Tutuila received 2.45 inches of rainfall.

The GOES-18 Infrared image at 1720 UTC on 25 December (below) included a cursor sample of the 10.3 µm cloud-top brightness temperature and associated Level 2 Rain Rate derived product just southwest of the Pago Pago METAR site on Tutuila — the Rain Rate was 1.92 in/hr, highlighting the heavy rain potential of these convective showers.

GOES-18 “:Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) image at 1720 UTC on 25 December, with a cursor sample of the 10.3 µm cloud-top  brightness temperature (white) and associated Rain Rate derived product (green) just southwest of Tutuila [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-18, Heavy rain / flooding, Level 2 Product Readouts