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Hurricane Force Low approaches the Aleutian Islands

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-18 Air Mass RGB images, from 1530 UTC on 02 January to 1900 UTC on 03 January [click to play animated GIF]

10-minte Full Disk scan GOES-18 (GOES-West) Air Mass RGB images (above) showed a large cyclone as it deepened to a 936 hPa Hurricane Force Low while approaching the Aleutian Islands of Alaska on 02-03 January 2024 (surface analyses). The Sea Level Pressure dropped to at least 945.6 hPa at Dutch Harbor/Unalaska (METAR identifier PADU), which set a new record January minimum pressure for that site.

As the low passed near Buoy 46072 (located just east of PAAK), the pressure there dropped to 942.7 hPa at 1940 UTC on 02 January (below).

Plot of wind speed, wind gust and air pressure at Buoy 46072

GOES-18 Air Mass RGB images with plots of Metop ASCAT winds at 2150 UTC on 02 January and 0730 UTC on 03 January (below) depicted wind speeds in the 50-60 knot range to the south and southwest of the low center.

GOES-18 Air Mass RGB images with Metop ASCAT winds plotted in cyan, at 2150 UTC on 02 January and 0730 UTC on 03 January [click to enlarge]

A toggle between GCOM-W1 AMSR2 Wind Speeds (source) at 1332 UTC on 02 January and 0042 UTC on 03 January (below) showed several small pockets of Hurricane Force magnitude (>64 knots, shades of magenta) within the expanding field of strong winds south of the low center on 03 January.

GCOM-W1 AMSR2 Wind Speeds, at 1332 UTC on 02 January and 0042 UTC on 03 January [click to enlarge]

Categories: GCOM-W1, GOES-18, Metop, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Satellite winds