GOES-16 Mesoscale Sector visible images: severe thunderstorms in Illinois/Indiana, and Tennessee/Georgia/South Carolina

By Scott Bachmeier • 20 March 2017

GOES-16 Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC storm reports of hail size [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute interval 0.5-km resolution GOES-16 Visible (0.64 µm) images (above; also available as a 130 Mbyte animated GIF) showed a cluster of thunderstorms that moved southeastward across Illinois and Indiana, producing a swath of hail as large as 2.75 inches in diameter (SPC storm reports) on 20 March 2017. The shadowing and textured signature of overshooting tops could be seen in the vicinity of many of the hail reports (hail sizes, red, are plotted in 1/100th of an inch; 275 = 2.75 inches).

On 21 March, a larger-scale outbreak of wind and hail-producing thunderstorms developed which primarily impacted parts of Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. Trees falling on homes were responsible for injuries and a fatality in Georgia, and hail as large as 3.0 inches occurred in South Carolina (SPC storm reports). As discussed on the Satellite Liaison Blog, the co-location of both Mesoscale Sectors provided images at 30-second intervals — GOES-16 Visible (0.64 µm) images (below; also available as a 168 Mbyte animated GIF) again displayed very detailed cloud-top structure which included overshooting tops and gravity waves.

GOES-16 Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC storm reports of hail (red) and wind damage (cyan) [click to play MP4 animation]

Categories: GOES-16, Severe convection