GOES-16 (GOES-East) Dust RGB images (above) highlighted the development of widespread plumes of blowing dust (brighter shades of pink/magenta) across parts of New Mexico and Texas on 17 March 2022. Surface visibility was reduced to 1.5 miles at some locations, with wind gusts in the 40-50 knot range (a peak wind of 56 knots was recorded at Dalhart in the Texas Panhandle) . 

GOES-16 True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below) provided another view of the blowing dust plumes (shades of tan to light brown), as well as a few narrow plumes of smoke (dull shades of white) from wildfires that spread quickly due to the strong winds.

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GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm). Fire Power and Fire Temperature products (above) displayed signatures of a fire at the Walmart Distribution Center in Plainfield, Indiana on 16 March 2022. The fire was first detected at 1646 UTC, and an hour later the 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared brightness temperature reached 74.1ºC at 1746 UTC — the maximum derived Fire Temperature value was 580.74 K, and Fire Power values peaked at 433.72 MW (the Fire Temperature and Fire Power derived products are components of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm FDCA).

GOES-16 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site are shown below; the initial cloud of dark black smoke began to move across the Indiana/Ohio border around 23 UTC.

A sequence of VIIRS True Color RGB, False Color RGB and Shortwave Infrared (3.74 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP are shown below. These VIIRS images were acquired and processed by the Direct Broadcast ground station at SSEC/CIMSS — and are available for display in AWIPS via a Unidata LDM subscription.

The eastern edge of the smoke plume passed over Indianapolis Eagle Creek Airport (KEYE), located about 5 miles north-northeast of the fire — since the smoke had been lofted to altitudes of 7,000-10,000 feet, it did not affect the surface visibility at that site.

Fire at Walmart distribution center in Avon showing up on radar ?@WISH_TV? pic.twitter.com/HrgDdZLnVL

— Marcus Bailey (@marcusbailey) March 16, 2022

"3-D" view of radar data of the smoke plume from the Plainfield fire today (March 16). The white line near the top of the plume represents a height of 10,000 feet. (Individual images were created via GRAnalyst) #inwx pic.twitter.com/xbsfqKqghH

— NWS Indianapolis (@NWSIndianapolis) March 16, 2022

#Sentinel5P #TROPOMI UV aerosol index also clearly shows the #smoke plume from the #fire at the Walmart distribution center (location indicated by red “X”) near #Indianapolis #Indiana yesterday afternoon 16 Mar.@NaegerAaron @CIMSS_Satellite @tropomi @CopernicusEU @colin_seftor pic.twitter.com/2e5Xc3KUUd

— AerosolWatch (@AerosolWatch) March 17, 2022

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Ice coverage on Lake Superior has reached a seasonal peak. The image above shows VIIRS true-color imagery from Suomi-NPP (taken from the VIIRS Today website). Mostly clear skies over most of Superior on 14 March allowed for better estimates of ice cover on that day from VIIRS (more clouds were present on 15 March).

Ice-cover mapping from NOAA’s GLERL (The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory), shown below (from this website) also shows extensive ice cover over Lake Superior. (Blue regions indicate open water.)

The analysis below (also from the GLERL site, at this link) shows how the ice cover has varied over the course of the winter over Superior. The present maximum is the largest ice extent of the season — and the ice cover is greater than normal. Ice cover over Superior typically peaks in early March.

When clouds are present (and when they are not!), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery (available in near-real time at this website) gives very high-resolution information about ice formation on Lakes. The image below shows the Normalized Radar Cross Section (NRCS) from 15 March 2022 just before 1200 UTC. Open water is indicated (flat black surfaces) just east of the Keewenaw Peninsula, just east of Isle Royale, in a strip along the western shore of the lake, and in a large region in central Lake Superior to the east of the tip of the Keewenaw Peninsula.

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NOAA/STAR does have a Great-Lakes specific SAR website that includes imagery mapped to all 5 Great Lakes. (Link). The mp4 animation below, using images from that website, shows the 11 most recent Lake Superior images of NRCS, ending at ca. 1200 UTC on 15 March. A lot of the views include Duluth Harbor.

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GOES-16 (GOES-East) Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images along with a Turbulence Probability product (above) showed the formation of a banner cloud in northwestern Montana on 14 March 2022 — this orographic cloud feature appeared to be anchored to the Lewis Range and Sawtooth Range, which rise to elevations of 8,000-9,000 feet. The Probability of Moderate or Greater (MOG) Turbulence correctly peaked at values of 70-80% during the course of the day in the general vicinity of the banner cloud — including around the time of a pilot report of Moderate Turbulence at 38,000 feet at 1341 UTC.

A GOES-16 Cloud Top Height derived product (below) indicated that the banner cloud tops were in the 37,000-40,000 feet range (darker blue enhancement) — the altitude of many pilot reports of turbulence that day.

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