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

Tornadic thunderstorms in Nebraska

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with Local Storm Reports plotted in 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) showed thunderstorms that produced several tornadoes, hail up to 4.50 inches in diameter and wind gusts to 73 mph (SPC Storm Reports) in addition to heavy rainfall across parts of central and eastern Nebraska (NWS Omaha summary) on 12 May 2023.

Pulsing thunderstorm overshooting tops exhibited infrared brightness temperature values as cold as -75.5ºC and multispectral Cloud Top Temperature values as cold as -77ºC — according to a plot of 0000 UTC rawinsonde data from Omaha, Nebraska (source) shown below, those temperatures correspond to an overshoot of the Most Unstable air parcel Equilibrium Level (MU EL) of about 1 km.

Plot of Omaha, Nebraska rawinsonde data at 0000 UTC on 13 May [click to enlarge]

1-minute GOES-16 Infrared images (below) include an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density — a notable lightning jump was evident in association with a large, destructive and long-lived tornado that moved north of Fremont, Nebraska (station identifier KFET) from about 2238-2338 UTC (cursor readout of Local Storm Reports at 2238 UTC | 2254 UTC | 2303 UTC | 2305 UTC | 2317 UTC | 2323 UTC | 2336 UTC), with frequent Flash Extent Density values in the 140-145 flashes/5-minutes range (darker shades of red).

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

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