GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with time-matched SPC Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) include time-matched plots of SPC Storm Reports during a large outbreak of severe weather across parts of the Midwest and Southeast US from late in the day on 10 December to a few hours after midnight on 11 December 2021. The severe thunderstorms developed in advance of a strong cold front that was moving toward the Lower Mississippi Valley (surface analyses | VIIRS Infrared image). There were dozens of tornado-related deaths in 5 states — Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and Illinois — with most of those (at least 70) being in Kentucky. This event has become the deadliest December tornado outbreak in modern history.

Shown below is a closer look at the long-lived “Quad-State Supercell” thunderstorm that likely produced a  family of tornadoes that moved across northeast Arkansas, southeast Missouri, northwest Tennessee and western Kentucky. Note that a mesonet station 6 miles southwest of Mayfield, Kentucky reported a wind gust to 107 mph a few minutes before the tornado struck Mayfield — and after 0335 UTC, the Mayfield Airport (KM25) stopped providing data (presumably due to widespread tornado-related power outages). The pulsing of colder overshooting tops (highlighted by shades of white within black-enhanced cloud tops) was evident at the vertex of a prominent Enhanced-V signature — and this signature indicated that an Above-Anvil Cirrus Plume (reference | VISIT training) was likely present.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with time-matched SPC Storm Reports plotted in cyan [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

For the fatal tornado that struck Mayfield, Kentucky this pulsing of overshooting tops during the time from Tornado Warning issuance (0305 UTC) to its arrival in Mayfield (around 0325 UTC) was seen in 1-minute GOES-16 Infrared images viewed using RealEarth (below).

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

In addition to the severe weather produced by this event, farther to the west strong westerly winds — ahead of a pair of advancing cold fronts — lofted multiple plumes of blowing dust, whose source regions were in New Mexico and Texas. GOES-16 True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below) highlighted the tan-colored dust plumes (along with a couple of brighter white wildfire smoke plumes).    

GOES-16 True Color RGB images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-16 Dust RGB mages (below) showed the eastward/northeastward transport of airborne dust (brighter shades of magenta) past sunset. At some locations, peak wind gusts were in the 50-60 knot range and surface visibility was reduced to 3 miles or less.

GOES-16 Dust RGB images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

Additional information about this severe weather event is available from: NWS Little Rock AR | NWS Memphis | NWS Paducah KY | NWS Louisville KY.  

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Gridded GLM observations of Total Optical Energy, above, capture the tornado-producing long-lived storm that hit Mayfield KY (and others) on 10 December. This storm had its genesis in eastern Arkansas, and it moved northeastward through the bootheel of Missouri, then into western Kentucky. It was mostly isolated from a line of convection to its west until it approached Louisville at around 0600 UTC, when the cells began to join together.

GLM observations of Average Flash Area for the same time period are shown below.

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Above-freezing ground temperatures caused snow melt in lower Minnesota, as seen in this GOES-16 true color imagery from RealEarth. Temperatures in the area reached a balmy 40 degrees Fahrenheit, dissipating what snow had accumulated. At the beginning of the animation, you can see a dark ‘V’ shape that is in contrast with the lighter snow. This is the Minnesota River. The ‘V’ mark disappears as the snow melts.

GOES-16 provides five-minute imagery that can capture changes occurring rapidly, such as snow melt on a warm day. GOES-16 five-minute animations are available to anyone for free on the RealEarth data visualization platform. Visit this link to be taken directly to this GOES-16 true color imagery in RealEearth.

More snow is forecast for the area tomorrow (Friday December 10).

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If you were restricted to just one satellite-based observation and had to describe a week of weather, what would you choose? Submitted for your consideration: Morphed microwave estimates of moisture. The animation above shows MIMIC estimates of total precipitable water (created by using GFS winds to morph individual swaths of MIRS TPW estimates) centered on Hawai’i from 29 November through 7 December. What do these fields show you? There is a general increase in moisture over the Hawai’ian islands from the end of November to 2 December, at which point a polar front associated with a strong southward moving extratropical cyclone moves through the islands, generating snow over the Big Island’s highest peaks. Subsequently, a westward-moving subtropical low develops and draws moisture up from the ITCZ, resulting in heavy rain over the island chain. By the end of the animation, dry air starts to move over the islands from the east.

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water fields are available here. A archive of all fields and various domains is here. Filenames are such that it’s relatively easy to create cron jobs that create animations showing the latest fields, for example here for the eastern Pacific, here for the western Pacific, and here for the southern Pacific.

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