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Large hail and heavy rainfall in the St. Louis area

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB images (above) showed thunderstorms that produced a few clusters of large hail (up to 3.00 inches in diameter: SPC Storm Reports) in the St. Louis, Missouri area on 13 May 2023.There were also several reports of heavy rainfall — GOES-16 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB images at 1956 UTC UTC, 2100 UTC and 2124 UTC... Read More

GOES-16 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB images, with Local Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB images (above) showed thunderstorms that produced a few clusters of large hail (up to 3.00 inches in diameter: SPC Storm Reports) in the St. Louis, Missouri area on 13 May 2023.

There were also several reports of heavy rainfall — GOES-16 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB images at 1956 UTC UTC, 2100 UTC and 2124 UTC (below) include a cursor sampling of the associated Rainfall Rate (red), Cloud Top Phase (yellow) and Cloud Top Height (green) Level 2 Derived Products over the location of Local Storm Reports of Heavy Rainfall. Cursor readout values of Rainfall Rate remained in the 1.85-1.90 inch/hour range during the 20-25 minutes prior to each of these 3 heavy rainfall Local Storm Reports.

GOES-16 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB image at 1956 UTC, with cursor sampling of the associated Rainfall Rate (red), Cloud Top Phase (yellow) and Cloud Top Height (green) Level 2 Derived Products [click to enlarge]


GOES-16 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB image at 2100 UTC, with cursor sampling of the associated Rainfall Rate (red), Cloud Top Phase (yellow) and Cloud Top Height (green) Level 2 Derived Products [click to enlarge]


GOES-16 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB image at 2124 UTC, with cursor sampling of the associated Rainfall Rate (red), Cloud Top Phase (yellow) and Cloud Top Height (green) Level 2 Derived Products [click to enlarge]

As discussed in this TOWR-S Satellite Book Club presentation, beginning with TOWR-S RPM 22 various types of “GOES RGBs w/Derived Product Readouts” are available in AWIPS under Satellite -> Local Menu Items, which includes these options.

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Tornadic thunderstorms in Nebraska

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) showed thunderstorms that produced several tornadoes, hail up to 4.50 inches in diameter and wind gusts to 73 mph (SPC Storm Reports) in addition to heavy rainfall across parts of central and eastern Nebraska (NWS Omaha summary) on 12 May 2023.Pulsing thunderstorm overshooting tops exhibited infrared brightness... Read More

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with Local Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) showed thunderstorms that produced several tornadoes, hail up to 4.50 inches in diameter and wind gusts to 73 mph (SPC Storm Reports) in addition to heavy rainfall across parts of central and eastern Nebraska (NWS Omaha summary) on 12 May 2023.

Pulsing thunderstorm overshooting tops exhibited infrared brightness temperature values as cold as -75.5ºC and multispectral Cloud Top Temperature values as cold as -77ºC — according to a plot of 0000 UTC rawinsonde data from Omaha, Nebraska (source) shown below, those temperatures correspond to an overshoot of the Most Unstable air parcel Equilibrium Level (MU EL) of about 1 km.

Plot of Omaha, Nebraska rawinsonde data at 0000 UTC on 13 May [click to enlarge]

1-minute GOES-16 Infrared images (below) include an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density — a notable lightning jump was evident in association with a large, destructive and long-lived tornado that moved north of Fremont, Nebraska (station identifier KFET) from about 2238-2338 UTC (cursor readout of Local Storm Reports at 2238 UTC | 2254 UTC | 2303 UTC | 2305 UTC | 2317 UTC | 2323 UTC | 2336 UTC), with frequent Flash Extent Density values in the 140-145 flashes/5-minutes range (darker shades of red).

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

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Tropical Storm Mocha in the Bay of Bengal

The storm system named ‘Mocha’ is brewing in the Bay of Bengal and was upgraded to tropical storm status earlier today. Mocha began as a deep depression in in the southeast Bay of Bengal. It is forecasted to continue moving north and gain strength, predicted to become a typhoon within... Read More

The storm system named ‘Mocha’ is brewing in the Bay of Bengal and was upgraded to tropical storm status earlier today. Mocha began as a deep depression in in the southeast Bay of Bengal. It is forecasted to continue moving north and gain strength, predicted to become a typhoon within 24 hours. Mocha’s current wind speeds are 50 mph.

Mocha will likely make landfall near the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh on Sunday, May 14. By that time, it will be upgraded to a ‘cyclonic storm’, or typhoon. It is predicted to cause winds up to 80 mph. Andaman and Nicobar Islands are already experiencing heavy rains from the system. Mocha will trigger heavy rains over north east India on Saturday and Sunday, as it approaches and makes landfall.

RealEarth’s Global Infrared composite is a data product that shows infrared satellite data over the entire world. Here is storm Mocha developing into a tropical storm. The animation shows data every two hours over an entire day: from 2023-05-10 at 1400Z to 2023-05-11 at 1400Z. You can recreate this animation in RealEarth.
The Total Precipitable Water (TPW) product from MIMIC gives another 24-hour view of Mocha. Shown hourly from 2023-05-10 at 1400Z to 2023-05-11 at 1300Z.

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Severe thunderstorms across Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) showed thunderstorms that produced several tornadoes, hail up to 4.00 inches in diameter, wind gusts to 81 mph and heavy rainfall (SPC Storm Reports) across northeast Colorado, northwest Kansas and southwest Nebraska on 10 May 2023.1-minute GOES-16 Infrared images (below) include an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density — most of... Read More

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with Local Storm Reports plotted in cyan  [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) showed thunderstorms that produced several tornadoes, hail up to 4.00 inches in diameter, wind gusts to 81 mph and heavy rainfall (SPC Storm Reports) across northeast Colorado, northwest Kansas and southwest Nebraska on 10 May 2023.

1-minute GOES-16 Infrared images (below) include an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density — most of the storms exhibited only modest lightning activity, although a few brief lightning jumps were evident.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-16 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB images at 2213 UTC and 2218 UTC (below) include a cursor sampling of the associated Rainfall Rate (red), Cloud Top Phase (yellow) and Cloud Top Height (green) Level 2 Derived Products over the location of Local Storm Reports of Heavy Rainfall and Flash Flooding in northwest Kansas. As discussed in this TOWR-S Satellite Book Club presentation, beginning with TOWR-S RPM 22 various types of “GOES RGBs w/Derived Product Readouts” are available in AWIPS under Satellite -> Local Menu Items, which includes these options.

GOES-16 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB image at 2213 UTC, with cursor sampling of the associated Rainfall Rate (red), Cloud Top Phase (yellow) and Cloud Top Height (green) Level 2 Derived Products [click to enlarge]


GOES-16 Visible/Infrared Sandwich RGB image at 2218 UTC, with cursor sampling of the associated Rainfall Rate (red), Cloud Top Phase (yellow) and Cloud Top Height (green) Level 2 Derived Products [click to enlarge]

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