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Mesoscale convective system over the Northern Plains

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with plots of SPC storm reports [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) showed showed the development of thunderstorms over the northern Plains late in the evening on 05 June 2018 — these storm clusters exhibited upscale growth and merged into a large Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) over North Dakota and South Dakota during the overnight hours. SPC storm reports are plotted on the images, parallax-corrected to be at a location corresponding to cloud-top features at a mean elevation of 10 km; notable reports included wind gusts of 100 mph in South Dakota, 71 mph in North Dakota, and 67 mph in Minnesota.

A 1-km resolution Terra MODIS Infrared Window (11.0 µm) is shown below, with with plots of SPC storm reports that occurred within +/- 1 hour of the image. The coldest storm-top infrared brightness temperatures on the image were -77ºC in eastern North Dakota and central South Dakota.

Terra MODIS Infrared Window (11.0 µm) image, with SPC storm reports [click to enlarge]

Terra MODIS Infrared Window (11.0 µm) image, with SPC storm reports [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-16, MODIS, Severe convection, Terra