1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed Laura during the the 12-hour period after it intensified from a Tropical Storm to a Hurricane in the southern Gulf of Mexico at 1215 UTC on 25 August 2020. Numerous convective overshooting tops were observed, some exhibiting cloud-top infrared brightness... Read More

Tropical system Marco (formerly a category 1 Hurricane) was weakened by shear overnight and early morning on 24 August (as forecast).  The half-hourly animation above, of GOES-16 Band 10, i.e., infrared “low-level” water vapor (7.3 µm), overlain with derived motion winds at upper (red) and lower (blue) levels (Click here to see... Read More

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images — with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (above) showed Marco as it intensified from a Tropical Storm to a Category 1 hurricane at 1630 UTC on 23 August 2020. A pronounced semi-circular convective burst was seen to develop near the storm... Read More

Tropical Storm Marco over the northwest Caribbean Sea, shown above in a toggle of GOES-16 ABI Clean window imagery (10.3 µm) and a NUCAPS diagnosis of 850-500mb lapse rates, is over very warm waters and in a region of favorably low diagnosed vertical wind shear. (Wind shear is from this website, (direct link to shear); the product is described here)  An inhibiting feature in strengthening, as noted in the National Hurricane Center discussion, is stable... Read More