Severe weather across Indiana and Ohio
* GOES-16 data posted on this page are preliminary, non-operational and are undergoing testing *An outbreak of severe weather occurred across the Midwestern US on 05 November 2017, with a number of tornadoes (including a 39-mile long track EF-2 tornado) in Indiana and Ohio. A GOES-16 Mesoscale Sector provided imagery at 1-minute intervals during this event — “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) with plots of SPC storm reports (T=tornado; W=damaging winds; H=hail) showed the development and motion of the severe thunderstorms. The locations of the plotted SPC storm reports have been parallax-corrected upward from the surface, to match a mean storm-top height of 10 km.
A toggle between Suomi NPP VIIRS Visible (0.64 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (below) showed a snapshot of the storm at 1803 UTC. SPC storm reports within about +/- 30 minutes of the image time are also plotted. The coldest storm-top infrared brightness temperatures were -71ºC (black enhancement), over southern and eastern Indiana. The VIIRS instrument will also fly on the JPSS series of satellites.
One interesting aspect seen on 1806 UTC Aqua MODIS Water Vapor (6.7 µm) imagery (below) was the signature of strong subsidence (darker blue enhancement) immediately upwind — along the western edge — of the 2 larger areas of severe convection. Once again, SPC storm reports within about +/- 30 minutes of the image time are plotted. Additional information on this event can be found on the Satellite Liaison Blog, as well as the NWS forecast offices at Indianapolis IN, Northern IN, and Wilmington OH.