Heavy rainfall and flash flooding across North Texas

August 22nd, 2022 |

GOES-16 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB images, with hourly surface precipitation amounts plotted in white [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB images from 1300-1800 UTC (above) included plots of 1-hour surface precipitation amounts — and showed clusters of thunderstorms moving across North Texas and the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area early in the day on 22 August 2022. These storms were focused along a quasi-stationary surface front that was draped across the region; heavy rainfall during this 5-hour period caused additional flash flooding in locations that had already received substantial precipitation within the previous 24 hours.

A GOES-16 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB image at 1410 UTC (below) displayed cursor readouts of the 3 RGB components along with the available Level 2 Derived Products — cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were colder than -80ºC, Cloud-Top Heights were greater than 54,000 feet and Rainfall Rates were nearly 3.7 inches per hour just south of Terrell, Texas. The Dallas/Fort Worth airport received a record 3.01 inches of rain in 1 hour (tweet).

GOES-16 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB image at 1410 UTC, with cursor readouts of RGB components and Level 2 Derived Products [click to enlarge]

Hourly MIMIC Total Precipitable Water images viewed using RealEarth (below) depicted TPW values in the 60-70 mm (2.4-2.8 inches) range, with a peak value of 78 mm (3.1 inches). The 22 August / 00 UTC rawinsonde report from Fort Worth had a TPW value of 2.34 inches, which was a record maximum value for that date/time.

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product [click to play animated GIF]

Additional satellite imagery and information about this event can be found on the Satellite Liaison Blog. 

Posted in GOES-16, Heavy rain / flooding, Microwave | Comments Off on Heavy rainfall and flash flooding across North Texas

Record 24-hour rainfall in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

August 7th, 2022 |

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]       

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector (from 0600-0800 UTC) and 5-minute CONUS Sector (from 0801-1301 UTC) GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed clusters of thunderstorms that developed and moved eastward across parts of South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa on 07 August 2022. In fact, these storms contributed to a new 24-hour rainfall record (5.44 inches) being set at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Much of this record rainfall occurred during the 0600-1300 UTC period shown by the GOES-16 imagery.

Shortly after flash flooding had been reported in Sioux Falls, a toggle between NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared (11.45 µm) and GOES-16 ABI “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images valid at 0826 UTC (below) revealed that the coldest NOAA-20 cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures near Sioux Falls at that time were -83ºC, compared to -74ºC with GOES-16 (identical color enhancements were applied to both images). The northwestward shift in GOES-16 image cloud-top features was associated with parallax (which in this case was a distance of 22 km for a cloud-top height of 50,000 feet).

NOAA-20 Infrared Window (11.45 µm) and GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images valid at 0826 UTC [click to enlarge]  

The MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product at 0300, 0600, 0900 and 1200 UTC — visualized using RealEarth — is shown below. TPW values near Sioux Falls peaked at 57 mm (or 2.24 inches) at 0900 UTC.

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product at 03, 06, 09 and 12 UTC (with plots of surface fronts/troughs) [click to enlarge]

Posted in GOES-16, Heavy rain / flooding, Microwave, NOAA-20, RealEarth, VIIRS | Comments Off on Record 24-hour rainfall in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Heavy rainfall and flooding in eastern Kentucky

July 28th, 2022 |

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with hourly surface plots; Interstates are plotted in gray [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed the development of multiple clusters of thunderstorms that were responsible for producing heavy rainfall and flash flooding across parts of eastern Kentucky during the nighttime hours leading up to sunrise on 28 July 2022. The coldest GOES-16 cloud-top infrared brightness temperature associated with these thunderstorms was -82.7ºC at 0431 UTC (within the small cluster of violet pixels over Jackson, Kentucky KJKL).

In a toggle between NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images valid at 0634 UTC and 0814 UTC (below) the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature was -83ºC (just northeast of Hazard, Kentucky at 0814 UTC). These NOAA-20 images were downloaded and processed using the SSEC/CIMSS Direct Broadcast ground station, before being displayed n AWIPS.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images valid at 0634 UTC and 0814 UTC [click to enlarge]

Posted in GOES-16, Heavy rain / flooding, NOAA-20, VIIRS | Comments Off on Heavy rainfall and flooding in eastern Kentucky

Record rainfall and flash flooding in the St. Louis area

July 26th, 2022 |

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with hourly precipitation type symbols plotted yellow and Interstates plotted in gray [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed the development of an elongated band of training thunderstorms that was responsible for producing record rainfall and flash flooding in the St. Louis, Missouri area during the nighttime hours leading up to sunrise on 26 July 2022. The coldest GOES-16 cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were around -75ºC.

A Suomi-NPP VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) image valid at 0802 UTC (below) displayed the large Mesoscale Convective System as it was just beginning to move away from the St. Louis (KSTL) area. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature in the VIIRS image was -83ºC (within the interior shades of violet). These thunderstorms developed as a southwesterly low-level jet began to increase isentropic upglide across and north of a stationary front that was located just south of the deep convection (surface analyses | WPC Mesoscale Precipitation Discussion).

Suomi-NPP VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) image valid at 0802 UTC [click to enlarge]

Posted in GOES-16, Heavy rain / flooding, Suomi NPP, VIIRS | Comments Off on Record rainfall and flash flooding in the St. Louis area

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