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Strong thunderstorms in the Fairbanks, Alaska area

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute GOES-18 Clean Infrared Window (10.3 µm, top) and Red Visible (0.64 µm, bottom) images, from 1910-2300 UTC on 26 May [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Infrared and Visible images (above) showed the development of thunderstorms that moved southwestward across the Fairbanks North Star Borough during the early afternoon hours on 26 May 2025 — producing small hail and heavy rainfall at several locations. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures associated with these thunderstorms were around -55ºC. It bears mention that thunderstorm activity in the Fairbanks area is very unusual during the month of May.

A sequence of Suomi-NPP VIIRS Infrared Window and Visible images (below) displayed 3 views of these thunderstorms — and without the parallax (from this site) that is inherent with GOES-18 imagery at the high latitudes of Alaska, the storms were situated more directly over the locations that reported hail (Fox, Fairbanks, North Pole and Moose Lake). The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures sensed with VIIRS instrument were around -60ºC.

Sequence of Suomi-NPP VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm, top) and Visible (0.64 µm, bottom) images that were valid at 1927, 2108 and 2248 UTC on 26 May [click to enlarge]

According to a plot of rawinsonde data from Fairbanks at 0000 UTC on 27 May (below), the GOES-18 cloud-top 10.3 µm brightness temperature of -55ºC closely corresponded to the altitude of the tropopause — while the Suomi-NPP cloud-top 11.45 µm brightness temperature of -60ºC represented a tropopause overshoot of approximately 1 km.

Plot of rawinsonde data from Fairbanks, Alaska at 0000 UTC on 27 May [click to enlarge]

It is notable that the Total Precipitable Water (PW) value of 0.64″ on the Fairbanks sounding was in the 90th percentile of all 0000 UTC soundings on 27 May (below).

Climatology of Total Precipitable Water (PW) for Soundings at Fairbanks (PAFA), with the values for all soundings at 0000 UTC on 27 May highlighted [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-18, Suomi NPP, VIIRS