Did satellite soundings provide information during the surface wind event on 1 May 2023 that lead to the closure of Interstate 55 (click here for a Google Traffic map from 6 PM on 1 May 2023!) south of Springfield IL (see this CIMSS Satellite blog post)? On 1 May, the location in question was observed... Read More

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Dust RGB images (above) showed areas of blowing dust (shades of magenta/pink) that reduced visibility to near zero along Interstate 55 south of Springfield, Illinois (station identifier KSPI) on 01 May 2023 — which caused multiple-vehicle accidents that resulted in dozens of injuries and several fatalities. As a result,... Read More

The RCM-1 satellite carrying SAR instruments overflew Lakes Superior and Erie/Ontario at 2350 30 April 2023 and 1135 UTC 1 May 2023, respectively. What kind of wind structures were observed, and how easily can one explain them? The imagery above shows a GOES-16 Visible animation from 2301 UTC on 30 April... Read More