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Snowfall in Texas and Oklahoma

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with hourly plots of surface reports [click to play animation | MP4]

A winter storm produced 6-8 inches of snowfall from the eastern Texas Panhandle to central Oklahoma on 03 January 2019 (NWS Amarillo |  NWS Norman). On the following day, GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) revealed the areal extent of the snow cover, with significant melting occurring by the late afternoon hours. The snow cover seen in the far northwestern portion of the images is from a winter storm that occurred 8 days earlier on 27 December 2018.

In a comparison between Terra and Aqua MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) images and the corresponding Land Surface Temperature product at 1757 and 1936 UTC (below), LST values in the 30s F (darker shades of blue) were 20ºF colder over the snow cover than over adjacent bare ground in Oklahoma, and 35-40ºF colder than the more sparsely-vegetated bare ground in Texas. By increasing the surface albedo, the snow cover acted to suppress daily maximum temperatures by several degrees.

Terra and Aqua MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) image and Land Surface Temperature product at 1757 an 1936 UTC [click to enlarge]

Terra and Aqua MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) image and Land Surface Temperature product at 1757 an 1936 UTC [click to enlarge]

===== 05 January Update =====

GOES-16 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm) images, 04 and 05 January [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images with hourly plots of surface reports, 04 and 05 January [click to play animation | MP4]

A sequence of GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images on 04 and 05 January (above) showed the continued melting of residual snow cover.

A toggle between NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images on 04 and 05 January as viewed using RealEarth (below) provided a higher-resolution view of the snow cover just after 1 PM local time on those two days.

NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color RGB images on 04 and 05 January [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color RGB images on 04 and 05 January [click to enlarge]

Categories: Aqua, GOES-16, MODIS, NOAA-20, RealEarth, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Terra, VIIRS, Winter weather