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Severe thunderstorms across North Texas

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, top) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm, bottom) images, with time-matched SPC Storm Reports plotted in red/cyan [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) include plots of time-matched (+/- 3 minutes) SPC Storm Reports — which showed thunderstorms that produced hail as large as 4.50 inches in diameter and wind gusts to 63 mph across North Texas on 26 April 2023.  Cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were as cold as -81ºC at 2328 UTC (violet pixels), and Above-Anvil Cirrus Plumes (reference | VISIT training) were evident with the 2 more dominant supercell thunderstorms.

1-minute GOES-16 Visible and Infrared images with/without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (below) revealed that the easternmost supercell thunderstorm tended to exhibit a bit more lightning activity. These severe thunderstorms developed just to the north of a quasi-stationary frontal boundary that was draped across North Texas.

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, top) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm, bottom) images, with/without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density [click to play animated GIF | MP4]


GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, top) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm, bottom) images at 0022 UTC [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Visible and Infrared images at 0022 UTC (above) showed an Above-Anvil Cirrus Plume (AACP) particularly well — at that time there was a 20ºC infrared brightness temperature difference between the cold overshooting top (-76ºC, darker black enhancement) and the downwind AACP (-56ºC, brighter green enhancement). A warmer AACP was consistent with warming temperatures above the local tropopause, as seen in a plot of rawinsonde data (source) from Fort Worth, Texas at 0000 UTC (below).

Plot of rawinsonde data from Fort Worth, Texas at 0000 UTC on 27 April [click to enlarge]

Categories: GLM, GOES-16, Lightning, Severe convection