A persistent ridge of high pressure aloft was keeping the interior of Alaska unusually cloud-free, as was evident on McIDAS images of GOES-11 0.65 µm visible channel data on 19 September 2010 (above). Temperatures at many stations across the region had been averaging about 10 degrees F above normal during... Read More

McIDAS images of GOES-11 0.65 µm visible channel data (above) revealed the southern edge of the ice in the Beaufort Sea (north of Alaska and Canada’s Yukon and Northwest Territories) on 18 August 2010.A closer view using a 1-km resolution NOAA-18 AVHRR false color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) image (below) showed that... Read More

Andy Heidinger (NOAA/NESDIS/Advanced Satellite Products Branch) pointed out a very long and thin cloud feature, which can be seen near the center of the false color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) image created using AVHRR imagery (above). In this particular RGB image, low clouds appear dark blue, while cirrus clouds are white. The cloud feature of... Read More

McIDAS images of POES AVHRR 10.8 µm IR channel data (above) showed the development of a large terrain-induced “banner cloud” over the eastern part of the Brooks Range in northeastern Alaska on 01 January – 02 January 2010. The IR cloud top brightness temperature values were as cold as -65º... Read More