Tropical Storm Pali has formed in the central Pacific, in a region east-southeast of Kwajalein Atoll (which atoll is at 9 N, 168 E), just west of warm Sea Surface Temperature anomalies (Source) associated with the ongoing El Nino. For the Central Pacific basin, Pali set new records for being the earliest-forming tropical cyclone on record... Read More

Water Vapor Imagery, above, from GOES-15, shows a parade of storms that have hit California (now over the intermountain West and the Plains), are hitting California, or will hit California. MIMIC Total Precipitable Water, below, shows the the ribbons of moisture associated with each storm. The storm hitting California on 6 January appears... Read More

The GOES-13 and GOES-15 Imager provides routine observations at five wavelengths, including 6.5 µm, a wavelength that is sensitive to water vapor absorption (SHyMet lesson). The YouTube animations below show full-disk GOES-13 (GOES-East) and GOES-15 (GOES-West) water vapor images at 3-hour intervals for every day during 2015. GOES-15 shows the remarkable... Read More

The 10.7 micrometer infrared window channel on GOES-13 and GOES-15 helps monitor the state of the atmosphere and surface. The animations below, from GOES-13 (top) and GOES-15 (bottom), similar to the GOES Water Vapor Animations, show active tropical convection over the Pacific, relatively fewer tropical systems over the Atlantic, an... Read More