Hurricane Delta in the Gulf of Mexico
![GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density) and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]](https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/images/2020/10/delta8_vis-20201008_212322.png)
GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density) and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]
A toggle between Suomi NPP VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) and Visible (0.64 µm) images of Hurricane Delta shortly before it intensified to a Category 3 storm are shown below; the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature at that time was -93.0ºC.
In a time-matched comparison of Infrared images from Suomi NPP and GOES-16 (below), the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature sensed by GOES-16 was 5.6ºC warmer (-87.4ºC); note the small northwestward parallax displacement that is inherent with GOES-16 imagery over the Gulf of Mexico. The same color enhancement is applied to both images.===== 09 October Update =====
In a toggle between Suomi NPP VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) and Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images at 0734 UTC or 2:34 am CDT on 09 October (above), the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature was -93.8ºC (just northwest of the storm center).1-minute GOES-16 Infrared and Visible images (below) showed Category 2 Hurricane Delta making landfall in southwestern Louisiana at 2300 UTC, producing wind gusts as high as 100 mph at Texas Point, Texas.
![GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density) and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]](https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/images/2020/10/delta9_ir-20201009_230025.png)
GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density) and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]
===== 10 October Update =====
A before (04 October) / after (10 October) comparison of Suomi NPP VIIRS True Color RGB images from the VIIRS Today site (above) revealed a marked increase of turbidity within the more shallow shelf waters of Texas and Louisiana, due to extensive mixing from the wind field associated with Delta. A comparison of VIIRS False Color images from those 2 days (below) highlighted inland areas with significant flooding that resulted from heavy rainfall and/or storm surge (darker shades of blue). A GOES-16 River Flood Detection product viewed using RealEarth (below) helped to quantify the severity of flooding resulting from the landfall of Delta.