1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) and Fire Temperature Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images (above) showed a period of extreme behavior of the East Troublesome Fire in Colorado around and just after sunset on 21 October 2020. This rapidly-growing wildfire produced a series of pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds — the coldest pyroCb cloud-top 10.35 µm infrared brightness temperatures... Read More

Hurricane Epsilon underwent rapid intensification (ADT | SATCON) on 21 October 2020 — and 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed Epsilon as it intensified from a  Category 1 to a Category 3 storm.GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images with plots of Derived Motion Winds from CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) displayed the broad... Read More

The East Troublesome Fire in Colorado expanded greatly on 21 October (click here for more information), and produced pyrocumulus clouds.  NOAA-20 overflew the fire at around 1930 UTC (linked-to overpass map from this site) on 21 October, and NUCAPS profiles, shown above, diagnosed the stability of the mid- and upper-troposphere.  The toggle below between the NOAA-20 VIIRS Visible (0.64 µm) and Infrared (11.45 µm) imagery and NUCAPS Sounding availability... Read More

Strong gap winds accelerating out of the Copper River Valley along the southern coast of Alaska were lofting fine particles of glacial silt/sand and transporting those aerosols southward across the Gulf of Alaska on 20 October 2020. 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-17 (GOES-West) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Dust Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images (above) displayed the plume... Read More