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Strong extratropical cyclone in the Midwest and Great Lakes

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images, with hourly plots of surfave winds and gusts in knots [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images, with hourly plots of surfave winds and gusts in knots [click to play MP4 animation]

A large and rapidly-deepening midlatitude cyclone (surface analyses) moved northeastward across the Midwest and Great Lakes on 24 February 2019. GOES-16 (GOES-East) Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images (above) showed the storm circulation that featured a pronounced dry slot — strong winds were widespread, with gusts of 60 knots or higher occurring in 16 states (WPC storm summary). New February records for lowest pressure were set in northern Michigan at Alpena (978.7 hPa) and Sault Ste. Marie (976.6 hPa). Blizzard conditions closed many interstates and highways across the Upper Midwest.

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (below) revealed the eastward motion of wind-driven ice across southern Lake Michigan.

GOES-16 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm) images, with hourly plots of surfave winds and gusts in knots [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with hourly plots of surfave winds and gusts in knots [click to play MP4 animation]

Categories: GOES-16