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Fog/stratus over Lake Michigan

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute GOES-19 Visible images with plots of METAR surface reports, from 1201 UTC on 25 April to 0000 UTC on 26 April [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute GOES-19 Visible images with plots of METAR surface reports, from 1201 UTC on 25 April to 0000 UTC on 26 April [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Visible images (above) showed fog/stratus that was moving southward across the far southern part of Lake Michigan on 25 April 2026. Plots of METAR surface observations highlighted how areas near the coast — where a lake breeze advected the fog/stratus inland — stayed significantly cooler (temperatures in the 40s F) than cloud-free areas farther inland (temperatures in the 50s and 60s F). Water temperatures in southern Lake Michigan were still in the upper 30s to low 40s F.

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 Cloud Thickness derived product images (below) depicted how variable the thickness of the fog/stratus layer was as it drifted southward across the lake.

5-minute GOES-19 Cloud Thickness derived product, from 1301-2156 UTC on 25 April [click to play MP4 animation]

5-minute GOES-19 Cloud Thickness derived product, from 1301-2156 UTC on 25 April [click to play MP4 animation]

Cursor samples (below) indicated that the maximum Cloud Thickness of the Lake Michigan stratus was just over 1000 ft (lighter shades of orange).

Cursor sample of GOES-19 Cloud Thickness derived product at 1641 UTC on 25 April [click to enlarge]

Cursor sample of the GOES-19 Cloud Thickness derived product at 1641 UTC on 25 April [click to enlarge]

Cursor sample of GOES-19 Cloud Thickness derived product at 2111 UTC on 25 April [click to enlarge]

Cursor sample of the GOES-19 Cloud Thickness derived product at 2111 UTC on 25 April [click to enlarge]

Categories: Fog detection, GOES-19