On the Terra MODIS true color image (above) an extensive cumulus field can be seen forming over the land surfaces surrounding Lake Michigan on 15 September — daytime heating along with the evaporation of abundant soil moisture (from significant precipitation on 12 September and... Read More

GOES-11 visible imagery (above) revealed a nice example of a von Karman vortex street downwind of Guadalupe Island (located off the west coast of Baja California: MODIS true color image). Guadalupe Island has a maximum elevation of about 1.3 km, which was high... Read More

A QuickTime animation of GOES-12 imager 6.5 micrometer (“water vapor channel”) imagery (above) reveals an interesting vortex associated with a cutoff upper-level low which was migrating eastward from Illinois to Ohio on 13 Sepember. Several pulses of convection can be seen developing along the periphery... Read More

Cold air was streaming southwestward across Lake Superior, behind a strong Canadian cold front (temperatures the following morning dropped to 19 F at Embarrass MN and 28 F at Hayward WI). On the MODIS true color image (below, left), the appearance of the cloud bands that formed over the lake closely... Read More