On March 19, a potent shortwave trough forced the development of a strong surface cyclone and moisture return into central Illinois, with ample surface theta-e and deep-layer shear to sustain surface-based convection.In the animation below, you can see the quickly developing convection and associated ProbSevere v3 contours evolve. The storm... Read More

The Slider above compares the Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB over the central United States with the derived Land Surface Temperature (LST), an hourly Level-2 product. Two snow bands over the central United States are a characteristic bright green in the RGB because there are minimal contributions there in the red and blue.... Read More

Blizzards, dust storms, fires, floods, thunderstorms and tornadoes were the result of very strong back-to-back negatively tilted shortwave troughs through the eastern half of the U.S. From Texas to Wisconsin, New York to Florida, severe wind gusts, large hail, and deadly tornadoes were recorded. The hardest hit states during the... Read More

Imagery from CSPP Geosphere (direct link), above, shows the condensation trail produced by the launch of the SpaceX rocket. Only routine CONUS 5-minute scanning was available to view the launch; very active weather over the southern Plains caused the GOES-16 mesoscale sectors to be positioned north and west of Florida. The 2303 UTC launch (news link), shortly before... Read More