An analysis of the Saharan Air Layer, above (from this website), shows dry conditions stretching from Africa to the southwestern Atlantic, wrapping around the clouds associated with a strong tropical disturbance that is forecast to move northwestward over the Lesser and Greater Antilles in the next couple days. (Both the dry air... Read More
Real Earth captured the cold cloud tops associated with vigorous convection with tropical storm Gonzalo shortly after midnight on 24 July 2020. The VIIRS Imagery from NOAA-20, above, (the day’s NOAA-20 passes in the region (from this site) are shown here) shows numerous cloud tops colder than -80ºC (the purple enhancement).True-color imagery... Read More
The animation above steps between NUCAPS Sounding Availability points and MIRS estimates of Rain Rate derived from NOAA-20’s Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) instrument (and available via LDM download from CIMSS). ‘Red’ points in NUCAPS sounding availability are usually associated with precipitation, and that relationship is apparent in the toggle. With the exception of four red points... Read More
GOES-16 Split Window difference (SWD) fields, above, and Meteosat Dust RGB imagery (both from 1500 UTC on 15 June 2020, and available at this site) suggest that a Saharan Air Layer (SAL) event is developing in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. (Click here to see an animation of the Split Window Difference; AWIPS note: the... Read More
