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Severe thunderstorms in Minnesota

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed clusters of thunderstorms that developed along and just behind a cold front moving eastward across Minnesota on 08 August 2020. The northernmost hail-producing thunderstorm in Minnesota exhibited an Above-Anvil Cirrus Plume (reference | VISIT training); in addition, a decaying thunderstorm complex in southeastern North Dakota eventually revealed the cyclonic circulation associated with a Mesoscale Convective Vortex.

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

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

GOES-16 Visible images (above) and Infrared images (below) included time-matched SPC Storm Reports.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

A toggle between time-matched NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) and GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (below) demonstrated the northwestward parallax displacement of GOES-16 cloud-top features (note: the same color enhancement enhancement has been applied to both images). Due to the 375-meter spatial resolution of VIIRS imagery, it was able to sense overshooting top infrared brightness temperatures as cold as -77.8ºC (compared to -65.7ºC with GOES-16). The higher resolution VIIRS image also provided a clearer depiction of the cloud-top gravity waves and tendrils of transverse banding.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) and GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) and GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to enlarge]

A GOES-16 Infrared image with parallax displacement vectors and magnitudes (in km) from this site is shown below. For a 50,000 foot cloud top over southern Minnesota, the parallax adjustment was to the southeast at a distance of 21 km (13 miles) — this corresponded well to what was seen in the NOAA-20/GOES-16 comparison above.

GOES-16 Infrared image, with parallax displacement vectors (green) and magnitudes (red, in km) [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Infrared image, with parallax displacement vectors (green) and magnitudes (red, in km) [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-16, NOAA-20, Severe convection, VIIRS