GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) indicated that a strong arctic cold front (surface analyses) had plunged southward across Mexico, through the Chivela Pass, and emerged as a Tehuano (or “Tehuantepecer“) gap wind into the Gulf of Tehuantepec on 24 December 2020. Along the Gulf of Mexico coast, a few... Read More

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Dust RGB images (above) displayed signatures of blowing dust (brighter shades of pink) moving southward across eastern Colorado and over the Oklahoma/Texas Panhandle region on 23 December 2020. The dust source region appeared to be eastern Colorado, where wind gusts in excess of 60 knots were observed during the morning hours.GOES-16 True Color... Read More

Strong winds behind a storm moving along the United States/Canada border on 23 December 2020 led to blizzard warnings over much of the Northern Plains (link). How easily was the blowing snow detected by satellite? The animation above shows the Day Snow Fog RGB from 1416 through 1751 UTC on 23 December 2020. During this time over North Dakota, low clouds... Read More

GOES-17 (GOES-West) Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) displayed the thermal anomaly (cluster of hot pixels) and brief volcanic cloud resulting from an eruption of the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawai’i on 21 December 2020. The coldest cloud-top 10.35 µm infrared brightness temperature... Read More