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Daily record maximum precipitable water at Miami, Florida

By Scott Bachmeier •

H/T to Brian McNoldy for sending this out on Twitter:

Hourly images of the MIMIC Total Precipitable Water (TPW) product (below) revealed the northward transport of deep tropical moisture from the Caribbean during the 16 May – 17 May 2016 period, with TPW values near Miami (KMFL) around 55 mm or 2.17 inches at 12 UTC on 17 May.

MIMIC Total Precpitable Water product [click to play animation]

MIMIC Total Precpitable Water product [click to play animation]

A comparison of the 00 UTC and 12 UTC Miami soundings (below) showed the increase of moisture within the middle to upper troposphere that helped contribute to the daily record maximum TPW value of 2.18 inches at 12 UTC.

00 UTC and 12 UTC Miami rawinsonde data [click to enlarge]

00 UTC and 12 UTC Miami rawinsonde data [click to enlarge]

The northward surge of tropical moisture also helped to fuel the development of a large mesoscale convective system over the eastern Gulf of Mexico, as seen in 4-km resolution GOES-13 Infrared Window (10.7 µm)  imagery (below). Cloud-top IR brightness temperatures were as cold as -80º C (violet color enhancement) at times with this storm.

GOES-13 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images [click to play animation]

GOES-13 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images [click to play animation]

A comparison of 1-km resolution Terra MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) and Infrared Window (11.0 µm) images at 1632 UTC is shown below.

Terra MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) and Infrared Window (11.0 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Terra MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) and Infrared Window (11.0 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Categories: DMSP, General interpretation