Under normal conditions of westerly flow aloft, one might expect to see occasional standing waves to the east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range; however, due to the presence of a strong cut-off low over the southwestern US, the winds aloft over Nevada and California were from the northeast on 29... Read More
MTSAT-2 IR images from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (above) revealed a well-defined eye associated with Super Typhoon Nida on 25 November 2009. Typhoon Nida underwent a period of very rapid intensification — increasing by 50 knots of speed in 12 hours — as seen on the CIMSS Automated Dvorak Technique plot (below). Low... Read More
QuikSCAT wind vectors + GOES IR and water vapor images From an email received on the morning of 23 November 2009: “Several hours ago, shortly past 7:00Z today, telemetry received from QuikSCAT indicates that the antenna rotation rate has dropped to zero and remains at zero. The motor remains... Read More
A McIDAS image of the NOAA-18 10.8 µm IR channel (above) showed a region of very cold surface temperatures (darker blue to violet color enhancement) over the interior of Alaska on 19 November 2009, especially in the vicinity of Chandalar Lake (station identifier PALR) and Anuktuvuk Pass (station identifier PAKP).... Read More
