Severe weather associated with the landfall of Tropical Storm Claudette

By Scott Bachmeier • 19 June 2021

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

The corresponding 1-minute GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (below) displayed cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures as cold as -80ºC (violet pixels) with some of the more robust overshooting tops. On both the Visible and Infrared images, Butler County, Alabama is outlined in blue — with Interstate Highways plotted in violet. A multi-vehicle accident with 10 fatalities occurred along Interstate 65 in far northeastern Butler County around 1830 UTC (2:30 PM local time); although no severe weather was reported in Butler County, the Infrared images showed cold cloud-top brightness temperatures moving northeastward over that area during much of the morning hours, so heavy rainfall and wet roads (with some residual areas of ponding water) may have been a contributing factor to this accident. Greenville in Butler County received 1.71 inches of rainfall — but not far to the southwest, Evergreen in Conecuh County received 3.16 inches of rainfall during the landfall of Claudette.

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

Categories: GOES-16, Heavy rain / flooding, Severe convection, Tropical cyclones