This website works best with a newer web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is not supported by this website.

CIMSS Satellite Blog

MENU

Cold temperatures in Montana

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with observed minimum surface air temperatures [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) revealed unseasonably cold surface infrared brightness temperatures in the -30 to -40ºC range (dark blue to green color enhancement) across much of Montana on the morning of 03 March 2019. Overnight low temperatures at a number of first-order reporting sites were colder than -30ºF (-34ºC) — with the coldest location across the state (and the entire US, including Alaska) dropping to -44ºF (-42ºC). This was only 1ºF warmer than the all-time record low for Montana during the month of March (record low: -45ºF at Glasgow in 1897, and at Fort Logan in 1906). A few daily/monthly cold temperature records were set in the Great Falls and Billings areas.

A sequence of 3 consecutive VIIRS Infrared Window  (11.45 µm) images (from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP) with a different color enhancement is shown below — the red shades indicate surface infrared brightness temperatures of -40ºC and colder.

Sequence of 3 consecutive VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]

Sequence of 3 consecutive VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]

===== 04 March Update =====

GOES-16 "Clean" Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with observed minimum aurface air temperatures [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with observed minimum surface air temperatures [click to play animation | MP4]

On the morning of 04 March, GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window images (above) showed a more localized pocket of very cold surface infrared brightness temperatures over the southwest part of Montana. The coldest measured surface air temperature was -46°F at Elk Park (at an elevation of 6292 feet) —  which, if certified, will establish a new all-time March low temperature record for the state of Montana.

A sequence of 3 consecutive VIIRS Infrared Window images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP (below) revealed surface infrared brightness temperatures as cold as -46ºC or -51ºF within the red-enhanced areas.

Sequence of 3 consecutive VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]

Sequence of 3 consecutive VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-16, NOAA-20, Suomi NPP, VIIRS, Winter weather