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Rapidly intensifying Hurricane Force Low south of Atlantic Canada

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-19 Visible images with plots of surface reports (yellow), buoy reports (cyan), surface pressure (beige) and surface fronts (violet), from 1051-2001 UTC on 04 November [click to play MP4 animation]

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Visible images (above) showed a rapidly intensifying Hurricane Force Low (surface analyses) that was approaching Atlantic Canada on 04 November 2025.

Two examples of Metop ASCAT surface scatterometer winds having speed values greater than Category 1 hurricane intensity are shown below.

GOES-19 Visible image at 1321 UTC, with a cursor sample of a Metop ASCAT wind vector having a speed value of 68 kts [click to enlarge]
GOES-19 Visible image at 1416 UTC, with a cursor sample of a Metop ASCAT wind vector having a speed value of 72 kts [click to enlarge]

5-minute GOES-19 Water Vapor images (below) depicted a mid-tropospheric filament of dry air (shades of yellow to orange) that wrapped into the circulation of the storm. Peak wind gusts at METAR sites along the southern coast of Newfoundland included 83 kts at Sagona Island.

GOES-19 Water Vapor images with plots of surface reports (yellow), buoy reports (cyan), surface pressure (beige) and surface fronts (violet), from 0936-2201 UTC on 04 November [click to play MP4 animation]

A NUCAPS profile within the dry filament showed the depth of very dry air throughout the troposphere (below).

GOES-19 Water Vapor image at 1631 UTC on 04 November, with the location of a NUCAPS profile within the dry filament circled in black [click to enlarge]


NUCAPS profile of temperature (red) and dew point (green) at the black circled location within the dry filament in GOES-19 Water Vapor imagery [click to enlarge]

10-minute GOES-19 True Color RGB images (below) revealed an area of water that exhibited a hazy appearance — this was due to enhanced scattering of light off of highly-agitated seas with large waves and abundant sea spray (caused by a localized area of very strong winds).

GOES-19 True Color RGB images [click to play MP4 animation]

At 1501 UTC (Visible image | True Color RGB image) this area of hazy-appearing water was located just SSE of Buoy 44139 — where the peak wind gust was 68 kts, the maximum wave height was 31 ft and upwelling (caused by significant wind/wave action) cooled the water temperature by 6.5 degrees F in 6 hours (below).

Plots of wind speed (blue), wind gusts (red) and air pressure (green) at Buoy 44139 on 04 November

Plot of wave height at Buoy 44139 on 04 November

Plot of water temperature at Buoy 44139 on 04 November

A Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image (source) from RCM-1 (below) showed the strong winds (shades of red) around the periphery of the storm center as it was located just south of the Newfoundland coast at 2132 UTC. Note the light wind speeds (shades of cyan to blue) in the vicinity of the storm center.

RCM-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar image at 2132 UTC on 04 November [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-19, Marine weather, Metop, NUCAPS, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, SAR, Satellite winds