AWIPS images of GOES-15 6.5 µm water vapor channel data (above; click image to play animation) displayed a signal of strong subsidence around the eastern periphery of a middle-tropospheric ridge of high pressure located over the eastern North Pacific Ocean on 22 February 2012. Note the rapid warming of water vapor brightness... Read More

GOES water vapor imagery tells you how moist or how dry the middle to upper troposphere is, right? Well, in general, yes — but it’s important to remember that the water vapor imagery actually displays the temperature of a layer of moisture that is emitting radiation. This layer of moisture... Read More

An animation of McIDAS images of GOES-15 (GOES-West) 6.5 µm water vapor channel data from 27 January to 31 January 2012 (above; click image to play animation) revealed the presence of an unusually large and persistent warm/dry region over the central Pacific Ocean (centered southwest of Hawaii). Water vapor brightness... Read More

A large outbreak of blowing dust developed in the wake of a cold frontal passage across parts of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma on 22 January 2012. At Lubbock, Texas winds gusted to 60 mph, and surface visibility was reduced to 0.5 mile. The strongest wind gust was 77 mph,... Read More