Interleaved 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector and 5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Upper-level Water Vapor images (above) displayed the SpaceX Starship 9 rocket exhaust plume thermal signature after it was launched from the Starbase facility at Boca Chica Beach, Texas at 2336 UTC on 27 May 2025. Note the change in exhaust plume shape with time and atmospheric layer: at early altitudes of 20-50 km (where atmospheric gases within the Stratosphere had more density, and therefore higher ambient pressure), the Stage 1 Super Heavy booster plume was more linear — but after the 2339 UTC “hot stage separation” as the Stage 2 rocket reached higher altitudes of 70-100 km (where atmospheric gases within the Mesosphere and Thermosphere were much less dense, with lower ambient pressure) the plume was able to expand outward into more of a curved “boomerang” shape beginning at 2341 UTC.

The changing shape of the exhaust plume with time (and altitude) was also apparent in 1-minute GOES-19 Plume RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below).

A display of all 16 ABI spectral bands from GOES-19 (below) showed that a hot thermal signature of the Starship booster was apparent in Near-Infrared & Infrared bands 04-16 — especially 1 minute after launch (at 2337 UTC) near the coast. In addition, the rocket booster exhaust condensation cloud was seen in all 16 spectral bands, as it began to drift eastward away from the Starbase launch site.

A toggle between zoomed-in 16-panel GOES-19 images at 2336 and 2337 UTC (below) made it easier to see the distinct Super Heavy booster thermal signature in spectral bands 04-16 at 2337 UTC.

1-minute GOES-19 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below) displayed the rocket booster condensation cloud as it drifted eastward away from the Texas coast.

10-minute Full Disk scan GOES-18 (GOES-West) True Color RGB images (below) also provided a brief glimpse of the rocket condensation cloud as it cast long shadows onto to offshore waters.

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Imagery from the CSPP Geosphere site (link), above, shows an area of disturbed tropical weather to the south of Mexico in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The National Hurricane Center (link, and below) notes a lack of organization with slow development forecast over the next few days. (Note that GOES-West Mesoscale Sector #2 is monitoring this region. Here’s a 1-hour animation.)

Metop-B overflew the system at 0400 UTC on 27 May, as shown below (source). A possible circulation center — or perhaps better stated as a center of cyclonic vorticity — is apparent at the southwestern edge of the domain near 11^oN, 100^oW.

In what kind of environment does this disturbed weather find itself? Imagery from the SSEC/CIMSS Tropical Weather site, below, shows relatively low values of wind shear, and very warm Sea-Surface Temperatures. In addition, low-level convergence and upper-level divergence are very close to the vorticity maximum at 850mb. A second set of scatterometery, from HY-2C (also available at this KNMI website), shows the broad center of circulation.

A 24-hour animation of MIMIC Total Precipitable Water, below, shows that this system is embedded within the abundant moisture of the Intertropical Convergence Zone.

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This invest is in a moisture-rich environment, with warm sea-surface temperatures and fairly low shear. Slow development is forecast. For more information on this system, refer to the SSEC Tropical Website, or the website of the National Hurricane Center.

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Clear skies over the Gulf of Maine close to midnight early on 27 Man 2025 allowed for the VIIRS instrument on NOAA-20 to capture a crisp view of the sea surface temperatures over that body of water. Temperatures are cooler than 50^oF over the entire Gulf of Maine, with low 40s (magenta in the color table used) hugging the coast of eastern Maine and Atlantic Canada. The coldest temperatures — in the 30s, still! — are over Lake Ontario. At the very southern edge of the scene, the warm waters of the Gulf Stream (just a bit warmer than 80^oF) are apparent.

JPSS data used in this blog post downloaded at the SSEC/CIMSS Direct Broadcast antenna and processed into AWIPS-ready tiles by CSPP software.

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1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Infrared and Visible images (above) showed the development of thunderstorms that moved southwestward across the Fairbanks North Star Borough during the early afternoon hours on 26 May 2025 — producing small hail and heavy rainfall at several locations. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures associated with these thunderstorms were around -55ºC. It bears mention that thunderstorm activity in the Fairbanks area is very unusual during the month of May.

A sequence of Suomi-NPP VIIRS Infrared Window and Visible images (below) displayed 3 views of these thunderstorms — and without the parallax (from this site) that is inherent with GOES-18 imagery at the high latitudes of Alaska, the storms were situated more directly over the locations that reported hail (Fox, Fairbanks, North Pole and Moose Lake). The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures sensed with VIIRS instrument were around -60ºC.

According to a plot of rawinsonde data from Fairbanks at 0000 UTC on 27 May (below), the GOES-18 cloud-top 10.3 µm brightness temperature of -55ºC closely corresponded to the altitude of the tropopause — while the Suomi-NPP cloud-top 11.45 µm brightness temperature of -60ºC represented a tropopause overshoot of approximately 1 km.

It is notable that the Total Precipitable Water (PW) value of 0.64″ on the Fairbanks sounding was in the 90th percentile of all 0000 UTC soundings on 27 May (below).

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