McIDAS images of GOES-15 6.5 µm water vapor channel data (above; click image to play animation) showed the changing signature of a persistent upper level cut-off low lingering over the north-central US during the 23 September – 27 September 2011 period. As the... Read More

Clear Air Turbulence can be a significant aircraft hazard, occasionally causing injuries and long delays. (See, for example, here and here for two recent examples. The second example resulted in a 6-hour delay (Link))At the upper-tropospheric boundary between air masses, vertical shearing at the jet stream combined with the ageostrophic... Read More

Turbulence associated with a developing line of convection over the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida was severe enough on August 9th to cause five injuries on a Miami-to-Washington DC flight and force an unscheduled landing of the 737-800 aircraft in Charleston, SC. The GOES-13 image, above, shows the path that... Read More

AWIPS images of GOES-13 10.7 µm IR data (above; click image to play animation) showed the progression of two long-lived Mesoscale Convective Systems (or “derechos”) on 11 July 2011 — one moving southeastward from the Dakotas and Minnesota, and another moving northeastward from... Read More