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1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Clean Infrared Window images (above) showed the thunderstorm that produced a EF-U rated tornado just east of Interstate 5 in northern Tehama County, California late in the day on 3rd January 2025 (this was the first verified tornado in the US for 2025). Cloud-top 10.3 µm infrared brightness... Read More
1-minute GOES-18 Clean Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images with plots of 1-minute GLM Flash Points (white), Tornado Warning polygon (red) and Tornado report location (red T), from 0100-0200 UTC on 4th January; Interstate 5 is plotted in violet [click to play MP4 animation]
1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Clean Infrared Window images (above) showed the thunderstorm that produced a EF-U rated tornado just east of Interstate 5 in northern Tehama County, California late in the day on 3rd January 2025 (this was the first verified tornado in the US for 2025). Cloud-top 10.3 µm infrared brightness temperatures of that particular thunderstorm cooled to the -40 to -42ºC range (darker shades of orange) beginning at 0101 UTC — and GLM-detected lightning activity began at 0108 UTC, reaching a peak at 0126 UTC.
A plot of rawinsonde data from Oakland, California at 0000 UTC (below) indicated that air temperatures of -40 to -42ºC were present at a pressure level of ~300 hPa (or an altitude ~9.2 km).
Plot of rawinsonde data from Oakland, California at 0000 UTC on 4th January [click to enlarge]
Tornado Warning in effect through 6 PM PST, includes the cities of Shingletown, Manton and Paynes Creek with quarter size hail. Take shelter now! #CAwxpic.twitter.com/cYkAJLahFw
5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Nighttime Microphysics RGB + daytime True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (above) showed several power plant condensation plumes south of Lake Sakakawea in western North Dakota on 3rd January 2025.GOES-16 Near-Infrared Snow/Ice (1.61 µm) and Day Fog (3.9-10.3 µm) brightness temperature difference images (below) suggested that particulate... Read More
GOES-16 Nighttime Microphysics RGB + daytime True Color RGB images, from 1151-2201 UTC on 3rd January [click to play MP4 animation]
5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East)Nighttime Microphysics RGB + daytime True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (above) showed several power plant condensation plumes south of Lake Sakakawea in western North Dakota on 3rd January 2025.
GOES-16 Near-Infrared Snow/Ice (1.61 µm) and Day Fog (3.9-10.3 µm) brightness temperature difference images (below) suggested that particulate matter within these power plant plumes (originating from plants in Mercer, Oliver and McLean counties) may have acted to seed a patch of supercooled water droplet clouds, causing them to glaciate and produce a brief period of light snow at Mandan (KY19) — and perhaps create enough ice crystals in the air to reduce visibility at Glen Ullin (KD57).
GOES-16 Near-Infrared Snow/Ice (1.61 µm) and Day Fog (3.9-10.3 µm) images with 15-minute METAR surface reports plotted in cyan, from 1501-1901 UTC on 3rd January [click to play MP4 animation]
GOES-19 (Preliminary/Non-operational) True Color RGB images and Blowing Snow RGB images created using Geo2Grid(below) displayed the power plant plumes from a different perspective (GOES-19 is positioned over the Equator at 89.5°W longitude during its post-launch testing, compared to the position of GOES-16 at 75.2°W longitude). Some lake effect clouds could also be seen streaming southward, immediately downwind of the ice-free portions of Lake Sakakawea.
GOES-19 (Preliminary/Non-operational) True Color RGB images (left) and Blowing Snow RGB images (right), from 1501-2201 UTC on 3rd January [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
Day Night Band imagery from JPSS satellites, above, processed using CSPP software on data from CIMSS and Monterey Direct Broadcast antennas, show a ribbon of Aurora over southern Canada early on the 1st of January. Activity was much brighter over the western part of North America. The Aurora is visible... Read More
VIIRS Day Night Band visible (0.7 µm) imagery from 0627 to 1012 UTC on 1 January 2025 (Click to enlarge)
Day Night Band imagery from JPSS satellites, above, processed using CSPP software on data from CIMSS and Monterey Direct Broadcast antennas, show a ribbon of Aurora over southern Canada early on the 1st of January. Activity was much brighter over the western part of North America. The Aurora is visible in part because of the waxing crescent Moon (it was new on 30 December 2024). NOAA-21 Day Night Band imagery over Alaska, below (unfortunately mislabeled as Suomi NPP), shows the peak Aurora initially over the southern part of the State. By the end of the animation however it is farther north.
VIIRS Day Night Band visible (0.7 µm) imagery from 0944 to 1804 UTC on 1 January 2025 (Click to enlarge)
The Aurora were present on 2 January as well over Alaska, as shown below.
VIIRS Day Night Band visible (0.7 µm) imagery from 0926 to 1427 UTC on 2 January 2025 (Click to enlarge)
It’s very hard to choose just one event from every month of the year, but the goal here is to show a variety of phenomena and locations that NOAA‘s GOES ABI routinely monitors, in this case during 2024. Most loops generated are from the University of Wisconsin-Madison CIMSS Satellite Blog, which is linked to in the titles at the top of each monthly entry. Imagery from GOES-16 and -18 (and -19) are showcased, along with the ABI’s sectors: Full Disk (10-min intervals), Contiguous U.S. (5-min intervals) and Mesoscale sectors (30-sec to 1-min intervals).
GOES-16 Full Disk CIMSS true color composite, most days of 2024, around 17 UTC.
Similar loop as above, but with a 1-min duration. Note that for several days in March that 16 UTC images were used.
GOES-18 Full Disk true color (Rayleigh corrected) composite, most days of 2024, around 17 UTC. (Click to Play)
The Moon’s shadow during the total solar eclipse was observed by many ABI spectral bands.
Time composited (minimum value) ABI band 3 imagery (every 10 min) from 2017, 2024 and both.
Bonus material: 1-min Mesoscale Sector (with 5-min CONUS sectors) of an enhanced ABI band 3 (0.86 um) following the shadow:
GOES-16 ABI Band 3 enhanced to highlight the eclipse shadow. These are 1-minute Mesoscale sectors over the 5-minute CONUS sectors, tracking the shadow every minute as it moves across North America. (Animation from M. Gunshor, UW/CIMSS).
GOES-16 (GOES-East)Nighttime Microphysics RGB images showed a thunderstorm that moved southeast from the New Mexico / Texas border across the southern Texas Panhandle Plains on 29 May 2024. A narrow northwest-to-southeast oriented hail swath produced by this storm — from south of Clovis, New Mexico to south of Lubbock, Texas — showed up as pale shades of beige. The Land Surface Temperature derived product showed cooling in the hail swath of more than 10F.
GOES-16 Nighttime Microphysics RGB images on May 29, 2024. (Click to play)
Similar to the long forgotten fog in many river valleys in BAMS (1989) observed by GOES-7, GOES-16 showed narrow tendrils of river valley fog — along a portion of the Mississippi River and a few of its tributaries in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. The derived fog and low stratus product also monitored the fog, while showing the need for improved spatial resolutions.
GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images on May 5, 2024, without/with plots of 15-minute METAR surface reports. Click to Play.
The GOES-U rocket launch was monitored by both GOES-18 ABI (30-sec) and GOES-16 (1-min), these were research Mesoscale Sector requests. Note that not only was the launch and rocket separation seen, but also the booster rockets re-burn when returning to land at the Kennedy Space Center! GOES-U became GOES-19 after successfully reaching geostationary orbit.
30-second GOES-East imagery showing the thermal signature of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket boosters as it launched GOES-U from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, June 25, 2024. (Click to Play.)GOES-U Rocket launch and the booster re-entry (in white circle) as seen by GOES-16 ABI meso-sector scans on June 25, 2024. Click to Play.
The storms associated with a weak tornado (at 16:49 UTC) in Buffalo New York were monitored by GOES. The Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB is shown, demonstrating the glaciation of the clouds.
GOES-16 Mesoscale Sector Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB, 14 -19 UTC on 5 August 2024 (Click to Play.)
During September, GOES-19 ABI continued to collect imagery from it’s location at approximately 90W and the equator. The ABI has 2 visible, 4 near-IR (or near-visible) and 10 IR bands.
The 16 spectral bands of the (Preliminary/Non-operational) early GOES-19 ABI from September 27 to October 1, 2024. (Click to Play.)
On October 2, 2024 several of the geostationary imagers observed the Moon’s shadow in the Southern Hemisphere. An example from the ABI on GOES-19 is below. A CIMSS true color loop doesn’t create the artificial colors that can happen in Raleigh-corrected composite imagery.
GOES-19 (Preliminary, Non-operational) ABI Full Disk CIMSS true color animation from October 2, 2024. (Click to Play.)
A prolonged eruptive period of Popocatépetl occurred during 22 October – 4 November 2024. Ash RGB images showed the periodic pulses of ash from Popocatépetl.
GOES-19 ABI (Preliminary, Non-operational) “ash” RGB from October 22 to November 4, 2024. (Click to Play.)
A number of derived products, such as a radiometrically-retrieved Ash Height product from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site showed that the volcanic plume occasionally reached altitudes of 12 km or greater.
Bonus – Power Plant Plume Produces Precipitation
GOES-19 (Preliminary, non-operational) cloud phase distinction over western WI on November 28, 2024. (Click to Play.)
According to Scott Bachmeier, CIMSS “The Nighttime Microphysics RGB did a good job of highlighting the industrial plume — then after sunrise, True Color RGB imagery showed that the plume had seeded the cloud layer enough to cause it to dissipate as it produced the snowfall (sort of like the aircraft-induced “fall streak” effect).”
While the animation below does not start in the month of December, it does end in that month. This is a combined GOES-West and East ABI band 13 composite image, in a Mollweide projection. This loop shows hourly data, as does this near realtime web page.
GOES-18/16 ABI longwave window composite imagery, starting on June 1, 2024. (Click to Play.)
Similar animations as above, from June 1 to December 13, but with playback durations of 1 and 2 minutes. The location of 7-day (hourly) animations for a few of the ABI bands.
Thanks to all who make the GOES imagery possible, the ingest and software to display the imagery (including, but not limited to McIDAS-X, geo2grid, geosphere, Real Earth and AWIPS) and all who generated CIMSS Satellite Blog entries, especially Scott Lindstrom and Scott Bachmeier. Special thanks to Mat Gunshor and Jim Nelson of the UW/CIMSS AWG Imagery Team. T. Schmit works for NOAA/NESDIS/STAR, is stationed in Madison WI, and will be retiring from federal service at the end of 2024.
