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Record 1-hour rainfall accumulation at Sarasota, Florida

By Scott Bachmeier •

5-minute GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, from 2001 UTC on 11 June to 0101 UTC on 12 June; KSRQ denotes the location of Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) displayed areas of convection that moved inland along the west coast of Florida on 11 June 2024. Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport received very heavy rainfall (3.93 inches) during the 1-hour period ending at 2353 UTC or 7:53 PM local time (METARs | decoded surface reports | plot of surface report data) — which was a new record maximum 1-hour rainfall accumulation for that location (contributing to their record daily rainfall of 6.26 inches).

A GOES-16 Infrared image showing a cold thunderstorm overshooting top at 2311 UTC (below) included a cursor sample of the associated GOES-16 Rain Rate derived product — which was 3.17 in/hr, compared to the 3.93 in observed at Sarasota/Bradenton for the hour ending at 2353 UTC. Note that the cold overshooting top and high rain rate were displaced about 6 mi northwest of KSRQ — for a Cloud Top Height around 50 kft, this is consistent with the parallax adjustment of ~10 km with GOES-East imagery over Florida.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) image showing a cold thunderstorm overshooting top at 2311 UTC on 11 June, which included a cursor sample of the associated GOES-16 Rain Rate (cyan) derived product [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Infrared images with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (below) showed the lightning activity associated with these thunderstorms, which included a few brief lightning jumps (most notably near Bradenton at 2316 UTC, 5 minutes after the peak GOES-16 Rain Rate).

5-minute GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density, from 2001 UTC on 11 June to 0101 UTC on 12 June [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

5-minute GOES-16 Visible images (below) also depicted many of the thunderstorm overshooting tops — but also showed the offshore cyclonic circulation of low-level clouds associated with Tropical Invest 90L (what role 90L may have played in helping to force the development of the heavy-rainfall-producing thunderstorms is not known).

5-minute GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, from 2001 UTC on 11 June to 0011 UTC on 12 June; KSRQ denotes the location of Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

Categories: GLM, GOES-16, Heavy rain / flooding, Level 2 Product Readouts, Lightning