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Hurricane Sally makes landfall in Alabama

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density) [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density) [click to play animation | MP4]

At 0500 UTC on 16 September 2020, Hurricane Sally rapidly intensified (ADT | SATCON) to a Category 2 storm, and soon thereafter made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama at 0945 UTC. During that time period, 1-minute GOES-16 Infrared imagery — with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (above) — displayed a ragged eye structure, along with a lack of GLM-detected lightning activity in the immediate vicinity of the storm center. The eye passed just to the west of Buoy 42012, where the wind gusted to 95.2 knots or 110 mph at 0510 UTC (below).

Plot of wind speed (blue), wind gusts (red) and pressure (green) at Buoy 42012

Plot of wind speed (blue), wind gusts (red) and pressure (green) at Buoy 42012

How did Sally change the Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) in the Northern Gulf? The toggle below of Advanced Clear Sky Processor for Ocean (ACSPO) SSTs from VIIRS, derived using CSPP (the Community Satellite Processing Package) and direct broadcast data at CIMSS, shows SSTs about 2ºF cooler (cyan in the enhancement, about 80ºF) compared to surrounding waters that are 82-83ºF..

ACSPO SSTs at 0746 and 1912 UTC on 17 September 2020 (click to enlarge)

Categories: GLM, GOES-16, Lightning, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS