Strong southerly winds (gusting as high as 50 mph) helped a large grassland fire (named the Okreek fire) spread rapidly northward across south-central South Dakota during the afternoon hours on 05 October 2011. The light gray smoke plume and the dark burn scar... Read More

A McIDAS image comparison of GOES-11 (GOES-West) 0.65 µm visible channel, GOES-15 0.63 µm visible channel, and GOES-13 (GOES-East) 0.63 µm visible channel data (above) showed the dark smoke plume from a fire burning at a chemical plant in Waxahachie, Texas (about 30 miles south of Dallas) on Read More

Hurricane Ophelia, the fourth hurricane of the north Atlantic tropical season, is pictured above near peak intensity as it moves over the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Hispaniola (which island is visible in the southwest corner of the image loop). The hurricane displays a circular central dense... Read More

GOES-15 0.63 µm visible channel images  (above; click image to play animation) showed the rather small but very distinct eye of Category 4 Hurricane Hilary in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean on 23 September 2011. GOES-15 (the newest in the series of GOES N/O/P satellites, launched and tested in 2010) is scheduled to... Read More