Severe weather associated with the landfall of Tropical Storm Claudette

June 19th, 2021 |

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in red [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in red [click to play animation | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) include time-matched plots of SPC Storm Reports — and showed severe thunderstorms associated with the landfall of Tropical Storm Claudette (surface analyses) early in the day on 19 June 2021. Numerous pulsing overshooting tops were evident with some of these storms.

The corresponding 1-minute GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (below) displayed cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures as cold as -80ºC (violet pixels) with some of the more robust overshooting tops. On both the Visible and Infrared images, Butler County, Alabama is outlined in blue — with Interstate Highways plotted in violet. A multi-vehicle accident with 10 fatalities occurred along Interstate 65 in far northeastern Butler County around 1830 UTC (2:30 PM local time); although no severe weather was reported in Butler County, the Infrared images showed cold cloud-top brightness temperatures moving northeastward over that area during much of the morning hours, so heavy rainfall and wet roads (with some residual areas of ponding water) may have been a contributing factor to this accident. Greenville in Butler County received 1.71 inches of rainfall — but not far to the southwest, Evergreen in Conecuh County received 3.16 inches of rainfall during the landfall of Claudette.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

Additional details regarding Claudette’s abundant tropical moisture and resulting heavy rainfall can be found on this blog post.

Posted in GOES-16, Heavy rain / flooding, Severe convection, Tropical cyclones | No Comments »

Severe weather across much of the Southeast US

May 4th, 2021 |

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in red [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in red [click to play animation | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) include time-matched plots of SPC Storm Reports (predominantly widespread damaging winds, with some large hail and a few tornadoes) produced by a large and long-lived Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) that moved eastward across much of Mississippi and Alabama on 04 May 2021. The strong winds — with some gusts in excess of 70 mph — caused power outages which affected several hundred thousand residents (and persisted into the next day: MS | AL).

The corresponding 1-minute GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (below) showed numerous overshooting tops that exhibited infrared brightness temperatures in the -75 to -70ºC range (white pixels embedded within black areas). The MCS also produced heavy rainfall and flooding in parts of northern Alabama.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]



Larger-scale views of 5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-16 Visible and Infrared images are shown below. Several additional MCSs produced a variety of severe weather across other parts of the Southeast US.

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in red [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in red [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

Posted in GOES-16, Heavy rain / flooding, Severe convection | No Comments »

Heavy rainfall and flooding associated with Tropical Cyclone Seroja

April 4th, 2021 |

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product [click to play animation | MP4]

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product [click to play animation | MP4]

The incipient circulation of Cyclone Seroja moved very slowly across the island of Timor in Indonesia during the 03 April – 04 April 2021 period — and the MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product (above) depicted very high values over that area (just northwest of Australia).

At Kupang’s El Tari Airport, precipitation amounts included 547 mm (21.5 inches) during the 48 hours ending at 00 UTC on 05 April — with the heaviest amounts of 106 mm (4.2 inches) in 6 hours and 80 mm (3.1 inches) in 3 hours occurring during the 00-06 UTC period on 04 April when the pressure was falling as Cyclone Seroja began to slowly organize and intensify (below). Flash flooding affected much of the island, with multiple deaths being reported.

Time series plot of surface observations at El Tari Airport, Kupang [click to enlarge]

Time series plot of surface observations at El Tari Airport, Kupang, Indonesia [click to enlarge]

JMA 2.5-minute interval rapid scan Himawari-8 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (below) revealed a few convective bursts — with cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures of -90ºC and colder (yellow pixels embedded within darker shades of purple) — in the vicinity of Kupang (station identifier WATT) between 04 UTC on 04 April and 00 UTC on 05 April.

JMA Himawari-8 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

JMA Himawari-8 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

A NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) image at 0550 UTC visualized using RealEarth (below) showed one lone -90ºC pixel within a convective burst centered just north of Kupang.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) image at 0550 UTC on 04 April [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) image at 0550 UTC on 04 April [click to enlarge]

CMORPH estimates of 7-day precipitation (available in RealEarth) over the region show 300-400 mm over West Timor, and values exceeding 700 mm (!!) over the adjacent ocean.

7-day CMORPH accumulation of precipitation ending 0000 UTC 5 April 2021 (Click to enlarge)

Posted in Heavy rain / flooding, Himawari-8, Microwave, NOAA-20, RealEarth, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS | No Comments »

Flooding in Tennessee

March 28th, 2021 |

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with hourly Precipitation Type plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with hourly Precipitation Type plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images centered on Nashville (above) displayed multiple clusters of thunderstorms that moved across Tennessee during the 27 March – 28 March 2021. The coldest overshooting top infrared brightness temperatures were in the -70 to -79C range. Precipitation ended and clouds cleared as a cold front moved eastward across the state on 28 March.

Hourly images of the MIMIC TPW product (below) showed the northward surge of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico beginning early on 27 March, providing an environment conducive to heavy rainfall.

MIMIC TPW product [click to play animation | MP4]

MIMIC TPW product [click to play animation | MP4]

Plots of rawinsonde data from 00 UTC and 12 UTC on 27 March [click to enlarge]

Plots of Nashville rawinsonde data from 00 UTC and 12 UTC on 27 March [click to enlarge]

Plots of Nashville rawinsonde data from 00 UTC and 12 UTC on 27 March (above) and 28 March (below) illustrated the rapid increase in moisture on 27 March, followed by the gradual decease in the wake of the cold frontal passage.

Plots of rawinsonde data from 00 UTC and 12 UTC on 28 March [click to enlarge]

Plots of Nashville rawinsonde data from 00 UTC and 12 UTC on 28 March [click to enlarge]

 

CMORPH estimates of accumulated precipitation (available in RealEarth) are shown below, with 24-hour totals ending 23:59 on 27 March (left) and 28 March (right).  The darker purple region denotes totals of >100 mm in 24 hours.

24-hour precipitation totals ending 23:59 on 27 March (left) and at 23:59 28 March (right) 2021 (Click to enlarge)

Posted in GOES-16, Heavy rain / flooding, Microwave | No Comments »

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