The Storm Prediction Center issued Extreme Fire Weather Outlooks (1200 UTC | 1700 UTC) that covered much of the central and southern Plains on 17 February 2026. A large-scale view of 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Visible images (above) included plots of Fire Mask pixels — which depicted the development of numerous wildfires, most notably along... Read More

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below) showed ice that had formed in far southern Lake Michigan (within the nearshore waters of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana) on 20 January 2026.1-minute GOES-19 Visible images with plots of surface winds and surface air temperatures (below) depicted... Read More

The Great Lakes have a significant amount of thermal mass, meaning it takes a long time for them to cool down as the seasons change from summer to autumn. Often during this time of year, the air overlying the lakes is warmer than the lakes themselves. As water evaporates from... Read More

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of Next Generation Fire System (NGFS) Fire Detection polygons (above) showed the rapid growth of the Cram Fire in central Oregon during the day on 14 July 2025. Strong westerly winds helped to transport a dense veil of smoke eastward. This wildfire had started... Read More