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Cold Air Outbreak

By Tim Schmit •

NOAA‘s GOES ABI has been monitoring the late year cold air outbreak over the contiguous US.

Infrared Imagery

During these extreme cold air outbreaks, it may seem like the infrared imagery “confuses” clouds and the cold ground, but this isn’t the case as the instrument just monitors the heat of the radiating surface, be it a cold cloud top or cold land (or warmer sea surfaces). More likely, as the case below, a certain temperature threshold is used for the color enhancement, in this case colder than -20C. More imagery, including the CONUS sectors. A still image from 13 UTC on December 23, 2022.

GOES-16 ABI longwave infrared window band, with the coldest pixels color-coded. Several days (December 19-26, 2022) are shown. Click to play animation.
GOES-16 ABI longwave infrared window band, with the coldest pixels color-coded. Several days are shown, with one hourly imagery. Click to play animation.

Land Surface Temperature

The Land Surface Temperature is one of the many derived products from the ABI. Both the Full Disk and CONUS sectors are included. Note how the cold air has come from central Canada.

GOES-16 CONUS Land Surface Temperature on December 22, 2022, click to play animation.
GOES-16 Full Disk Land Surface Temperature on December 22, 2022, click to play animation.

Cloud Heights

Cloud heights are another derived quantity from the ABI radiances. Most algorithms are able to discern the cold ground from cold clouds.

GOES-16 ABI Clouds Heights for the CONUS sector on December 23, 2022, click to play animation.

And the corresponding legend.

H/T

Thanks to all those to help produce the GOES radiances and derived products. More information on Level 2 products.

Categories: Arctic, General interpretation, GOES-16, RealEarth, Winter weather