This website works best with a newer web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is not supported by this website.

CIMSS Satellite Blog

MENU

Severe weather over northeast Illinois

By Scott Lindstrom •

GOES-16 “Red”Visible (0.64 µm) Imagery, 1900 UTC 9 August – 0040 UTC 10 August 2021

Severe thunderstorms developed over northeast Illinois late in the afternoon on 9 August, and a series of tornadoes resulted. Storm Reports (from the Storm Prediction Center) are shown below. The mp4 animation above (click here for a large animated gif) shows 1-minute GOES-16 Mesoscale Sector 2 visible imagery (0.64 µm) from 1900 UTC on 9 August through 0040 UTC on 10 August. The active convection is apparent.

SPC Storm Reports from 9 August 2021 (Click to view site at SPC)

Part of the region hit by severe weather is in a persistent drought, as shown below (an image from this website). Rains that accompanied the severe weather provided some drought relief. (Click here for hourly CMORPH2 precipitation estimates from RealEarth)

Drought Intensity over the Midwestern United States, 3 August 2021 (Click to enlarge). Portions of southeast Wisconsin and northeast Illinois are under Severe Drought (Orange Enhancement)

RCM3 (RADARSAT Constellation Mission 3) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) winds from a 2340 UTC overpass on 9 August (from this site) show a wind feature over Lake Michigan associated with the convection. These wind estimates might be affected by ice within the glaciated clouds

RCM3 SAR esimates of wind speed, 2340 UTC on 9 August 2021 (Click to enlarge)

Categories: GOES-16, SAR, Severe convection