GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB images (above) displayed actinoform clouds (reference) near Bermuda on 05 February 2022. The light shades of green exhibited by the narrow cloud bands within the actinoform features suggested that they were beginning to glaciate — and as one of those cloud bands (associated with a dissipating actinoform feature) moved across the island of Bermuda, it briefly produced light rain showers at the airport (TXKF). It should be noted that this is an unusual location to see actinform clouds; most examples tend to form over the Pacific Ocean.

A toggle between GOES-16 Visible and RGB images at 1401 UTC is shown below.

Another example of actinoform clouds producing precipitation — over the Pacific Ocean, near Hawai`i — can be seen here.

Thanks to Margaret Mooney (CIMSS) for bringing these features in the Atlantic to our attention:

Cool actinoform clouds over the Atlantic today via #GOESeast. Learn more about these unique clouds (more common over the Pacific Ocean) on the CIMSS Satellite Blog at https://t.co/KASniHX4Hd Get updates at https://t.co/SriPHwz4fC pic.twitter.com/ZWO4utQ3Wy

— UW-Madison CIMSS (@UWCIMSS) February 5, 2022

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US Space Force EWS-G1 — formerly GOES-13 — Visible (0.63 µm) and Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed Cyclone Batsirai making landfall as a Category 3 storm along the eastern coast of Madagascar on 05 February 2022.

Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images viewed using RealEarth (below) provided a more detailed view of Batsirai at 1045 UTC.

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In a sequence of GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm) and Day Snow-Fog RGB images (above), areas that received a significant accretion of ice — via sleet and/or freezing rain/drizzle from a significant winter storm — appeared as darker shades of gray to black in the 1.61 µm images and as darker shades of red in the RGB images on 04 February 2022. 

A toggle between Suomi-NPP VIIRS Visible (0.64 µm) and Near-Infrared (1.61 µm) is shown below, and provided a higher-resolution view of the darker ice accretion signature at 1942 UTC.

===== 05 Februray Update =====

On the following day, clouds had cleared from much of the central US — enabling the areal coverage of this ice accretion signature to be seen across parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky (above). A comparison of GOES-16 “Red” Visible, Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” and Day Snow-Fog RGB images at 1501 UTC (below) showed how this darker ribbon of ice accretion was located along the southern edge accumulating snowfall produced by the winter storm.

A closer view centered on the Missouri-Illinois-Kentucky-Tennessee border region (below) showed (1) the subtle effects of topography on resultant snow/ice accumulation, and (2) the darker appearance on Snow/Ice and RGB images in some areas that appeared to be bare ground in the Visible images (due to the clear/translucent nature of any sleet and/or freezing rain on the surface). Unfortunately, a portion of that satellite scene was also affected by a major tornado outbreak about 2 months prior to this winter storm.     

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The wide-ranging high-impact storm that brought snowfall in a long band from the Southern Plains to the eastern Great Lakes and New England, as shown here (analysis from this website), and severe weather to Mississippi and Alabama, produced significant icing over the mid-south. With the icing came power outages, as shown in this screenshot (from 1410 UTC on 4 February 2022) from the Memphis (TN) Power and Light website. (You can also view state-wide maps, from this website, for Tennessee and Arkansas).

Day Night Band imagery on both NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP can be used to determine the horizontal extent of Power Outages (as noted on this blog in the past numerous times; here and here for example). The NOAA-20 Day Night Band image above (NOAA-20 orbits for 4 February are shown here), centered on Memphis, and derived from the VIIRS Today Website, shows light emissions over Memphis and surroundings (note that the Moon on 4 February will not be providing lunar illumination at 0737 UTC; it is just 4 days past a New Moon, and the Moon set at 0224 UTC on 3 February). How can you judge the effect of power outages using the Day Night Band? This is typically done by comparing Day Night bands from before and during the Power Outages — with similar cloud cover. Finding similar cloud cover and similar lunar illumination is a challenge. A possible example is shown below, a toggle between NOAA-20 images on 4 February and from 32 days earlier, on 3 January.

Even with identical viewing geometry, and similar cloud conditions, it’s difficult to ascertain where lights are not present because of outages, and where they might be missing because of cloud cover. Regions to the east and south of Memphis show fewer light signals on 4 February — but clouds are also thicker there on 4 February!

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