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Winter storm brings snowfall to the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states

By Scott Bachmeier •

5-minute GOES-19 Mid-level Water Vapor images with hourly surface weather type plotted in red (R=rain, S=snow, BS=blowing snow, ZR=freezing rain, L=drizzle, F=fog), from 1801 UTC on 30 January to 1801 UTC on 01 February [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

48 hours of 5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Water Vapor images that included hourly plots of surface weather type (above) showed the development of a winter storm that produced up to 19.5″ of snowfall and wind gusts as high as 64 mph in eastern North Carolina (storm summary) — and even some light snow in far northern Florida — from 30 January to 01 February 2026.

A GOES-19 Mesoscale Domain Sector provided 1-minute imagery of this winter storm — and a closer view centered over eastern North Carolina using Water Vapor and Infrared imagery (below) depicted the formation of west-to-east oriented mesoscale cloud bands which enhanced snowfall rates as they moved northward across eastern North Carolina to southeastern Virginia.

1-minute GOES-19 Water Vapor images (left) and Infrared images (right), with hourly plots of surface weather type [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

As clouds cleared after the storm moved offshore, GOES-19 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below) showed that some of the fresh snow cover across Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina began to melt during the day on 01 February.

5-minute GOES-19 True Color RGB images, from 1301-2156 UTC on 01 February [click to play MP4 animation]

As the low pressure system moved off the US East Coast and rapidly intensified to Hurricane Force, hazy areas seen in GOES-19 True Color RGB images (below) represented enhanced solar reflection off of high waves and sea spray (where strong surface winds were present to the east and southeast of the low center, behind its cold front).

5-minute GOES-19 True Color RGB images, from 1201-2056 UTC on 01 February [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-19 Visible images with plots of Derived Motion Winds (DMW) (below) depicted a large swath of DMW speeds >50 kts (yellow) east and southeast of the Hurricane Force low center. GLM Flash Extent Density also showed that lightning activity was associated with areas of convection near and northeast of the low center.

5-minute GOES-19 Visible images with an overlay of Derived Motion Wind barbs and GLM Flash Extent Density, from 1246-2101 UTC on 01 February [click to play MP4 animation]

DMW speeds were as high as 82 kts in the region of the hazy signature east of the low  pressure center (below).

GOES-19 Visible image at 1801 UTC on 01 February, with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density and a cursor sample of Derived Motion Winds east of the low pressure center [click to enlarge]

GOES-19 Visible image at 2001 UTC on 01 February, with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density and a cursor sample of Derived Motion Winds east of the low pressure center [click to enlarge]

Altimeter significant wave height values east of the Hurricane Force low were as high as 46.13 ft derived from SWOT at 2130 UTC and 50.47 ft derived from AltiKa at 2239 UTC on 01 February (below).

Significant wave height values derived from SWOT and AltiKa on 01 February

Categories: Altimetry, GLM, GOES-19, Lightning, Marine weather, Satellite winds, Winter weather