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Severe weather outbreak across eastern Texas and the Deep South

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC storm reports plotted in red [click to play MP4 animation]

An outbreak of severe weather began in eastern Texas on the morning of 13 April 2019, where thunderstorms produced hail up to 3.0 inches in diameter, tornadoes and damaging winds (SPC storm reports). 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed the clusters of thunderstorms that developed as a surface low and associated frontal boundaries moved eastward (surface analyses). The corresponding GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (below) revealed numerous overshooting tops with infrared brightness temperatures as cold as -70 to -75ºC. In addition, the storm producing 3.0-inch hail and damaging winds at 1428 UTC exhibited an Above-Anvil Cirrus Plume (Visible/Infrared toggle).

GOES-16 "Clean" Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with SPC storm reports plotted in purple [click to play MP4 animation]

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

A comparison of Terra MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) and Infrared Window (11.0 µm) images at 1650 UTC is shown below.

Terra MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) and Infrared Window (11.0 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Terra MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) and Infrared Window (11.0 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Later in the day, the thunderstorms continued to produce a variety of severe weather as they moved eastward across Louisiana and Mississippi, as shown by GOES-16 Visible and Infrared images (below).

GOES-16 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC storm reports plotted in red [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC storm reports plotted in red [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-16 "Clean" Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with SPC storm reports plotted in cyan [click to play MP4 animation]

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

After sunset, the thunderstorms continued to move eastward, spreading more serve weather across Mississippi into Alabama and far southern Tennessee (below).

GOES-16 "Clean" Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with SPC storm reports plotted in cyan [click to play MP4 animation]

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

VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP (below) provided additional views of the storms as they were moving across Mississippi and Alabama. Several bright lightning streaks were evident on the Day/Night Band images. Note: the NOAA-20 image (downloaded and processed from the Direct Broadcast ground station at CIMSS) is incorrectly labeled as Suomi NPP.

VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 [click to enlarge]

VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 at 0645 UTC and Suomi NPP at 0734 UTC [click to enlarge]

On a NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image at 0825 UTC (below), an impressively-long (~400 mile) dark “post-saturation recovery streak” extended southeastward from where the detector sensed an area of very intense/bright lightning activity northeast of Mobile, Alabama.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image at 0825 UTC [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image at 0825 UTC [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-16, Lightning, MODIS, NOAA-20, Severe convection, Suomi NPP, Terra, VIIRS