An mesoscale phenomenon that sometimes emerges out of Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS) is the Mesoscale Convective Vortex (MCV). Intense latent heating within the rain core of an MCS can help spin up a vortex that will occasionally live on even as the MCS that spawned it withers away. The spin-up can be visualized as a potential... Read More
As much as we enjoy evangelizing satellite imagery and demonstrating all its useful applications, there are situations when satellite imagery simply is not as helpful as we would hope it might be. On 11 July 2007, a lightning strike started a fire at the Sunoco Oil Refinery near West Deptford, New Jersey... Read More
The first documented F5 tornado damage on record in Canada occurred on 22 June 2007. GOES-12 10.7µm InfraRed channel imagery (above) and visible channel imagery (below) show the development of severe convection that spawned the tornado that struck the town of Elie in south-central Manitoba (just west of Winnipeg, station identifier CXWN)... Read More
Severe thunderstorms developed over northwestern Kansas on 19 June 2007. An AWIPS image of the MODIS 11.0µm InfraRed (IR) channel (above) revealed an “enhanced-v” and a “warm trench” IR signature on adjacent storm tops. The coldest cloud top brightness temperature values were -77º C on both signatures; the warmest IR temperature associated... Read More
