Deadly fires on the island of Maui occurred in an environment favorable to fire development: dry and windy. What kind of satellite data could be used to assess those conditions? Sentinel-1A overflew the western Hawai’ian islands near sunset on 8 August 2023 (that is, at 0440 UTC on 9 August), as shown above. Widespread 30-knot winds... Read More
Target Sector (2.5-minute interval) JMA Himawari-9 AHI Visible and Infrared images (above) showed Category 4 Typhoon Khanun as it moved just south of Okinawa Island from 0502-1002 UTC on 01 August 2023. Visible images depicted mesovortces within the eye.During that 0502-1002 UTC time period, peak wind gusts at the 3 METAR sites located in... Read More
Typhoon Doksuri moved between the Philippines and Taiwan late on 26 July 2023 as it approached mainland China. Both Sentinel-1A and RCM-3 overflew the storm shortly after 2200 UTC on 26 July, and those two scenes are shown above in concert with a Band 13 Himawari-9 Clean Window infrared (10.4... Read More
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) website has for more than a day been tracking invest number 91W, shown above. The feature is circled in yellow, meaning development is unlikely in the next 24 hours. What satellite data might be used to make that determination?MIMIC Total Precipitable water fields, for the 24 hours ending... Read More
