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Pyrocumulonimbus cloud in the Oklahoma Panhandle

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute GOES-19 0.64 µm Visible + Fire Mask images (left), 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared images (center) and 10.3 µm Infrared Window images (right), from 2321 UTC on 14 May to 0100 UTC on 15 May [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Visible images (with an overlay of the FDCA Fire Mask derived product), Shortwave Infrared images and Infrared Window images (above) showed the thermal anomaly associated with a wildfire in the far western Oklahoma Panhandle that produced a small pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud shortly before sunset on 14 May 2026. Note that a RAWS site just southwest of the pyroCb-producing wildfire reported a wind gust to 63 mph (during the 30-minute period ending at 2330 UTC), followed by a wind gust to 47 mph (during the 30-minute period ending at 0030 UTC).

A cursor sample of the GOES-19 Infrared Window image at 0005 UTC on 15 May (below) showed when the pyroCb cloud first exhibited a cloud-top 10.3 µm brightness temperatures of -40ºC (dark blue enhancement) or colder — a necessary condition to be classified as a pyrocumulonimbus cloud. The coldest pyroCb cloud-top 10.3 µm infrared brightness temperature was -47.41ºC, which occurred as early as 0040 UTC.

GOES-19 0.64 µm Visible + Fire Mask image (left), 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared image (center) and 10.3 µm Infrared Window image (right) at 0005 UTC on 15 May, with a cursor sample of the Infrared Window brightness temperature [click to enlarge]

1-minute GOES-19 GeoColor RGB images with NGFS Fire Detection polygons (below) revealed that the smoke-laden pyroCb cloud top exhibited subtle shades of tan (0037 UTC image) — in contrast to the brighter-white cloud tops of adjacent convection.

1-minute GOES-19 True Color RGB images with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection polygons, from 2345 UTC on 14 May to 0045 UTC on 15 May [click to play MP4 animation]

Categories: Fire detection, GOES-19, NGFS, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images