GOES-16 (GOES-East) True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (above) showed the growth of numerous large smoke plumes created by wildfires across parts of Manitoba and Ontario on 18 May 2021. A “pyrocumulus jump” was seen in Manitoba (just south of Lake Winnipeg) just after 00 UTC.

Early in the day, a significant amount of ice coverage was apparent in the northern portion of Lake Winnipeg (before becoming obscured by dense smoke plumes). In addition, a line of thunderstorms developed across Saskatchewan and Montana ahead of an approaching cold front.

===== 19 May Update =====

In a toggle between Suomi NPP VIIRS Shortwave Infrared and Day/Night Band images at 0811 UTC or 3:11 AM CDT on 19 May (above), the thermal signature of the large fire between Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg was obscured by a narrow patch of cloudiness, but the bright signature of active fires still burning along the periphery of the original wildfire burn area was apparent in the Day/Night Band image.

The GOES-16 Aerosol Optical Depth product (below) highlighted a plume of smoke aloft — originating from the Manitoba/Ontario fires — moving southward across Quebec, Canada and the Northeast US during the subsequent daytime hours. AOD values were as high as 1.0 within the plume.

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US Space Force EWS-G1 Infrared (10.7 µm) images (above) showed Cyclone Tauktae in the Arabian Sea (just off the west coast of India) as it intensified from a Category 1 to a Category 3 storm on 16 May 2021.

A DMSP-18 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) revealed a fully enclosed eye at 1142 UTC, shortly before Tauktae reached Category 3 intensity at 12 UTC.

===== 17 May Update =====

EWS-G1 Infrared images (above) showed Cyclone Tauktae making landfall along the coast of India around 1745 UTC on 17 May, with a Category 3 intensity (ADT | SATCON).

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1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-17 (GOES-West) Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (above) displayed the explosive growth of the  Palisades Fire thermal signature late in the day on 15 May 2021. The maximum 3.9 µm brightness temperature sensed was 138.7ºC — which is the saturation temperature for those ABI detectors. The fire prompted evacuation orders in the Topanga, California area.

A time-matched comparison of Shortwave Infrared images from Suomi NPP VIIRS (3.74 µm) and GOES-17 ABI (3.9 µm) at 0918 UTC or 2:18 am PDT is shown below (overpass times of the Suomi NPP satellite). Although a decrease in the fire’s intensity occurred during the subsequent overnight hours, the Shortwave Infrared brightness temperatures sensed by Suomi NPP and GOES-17 at that time were 59.9ºC and 28.1ºC, respectively.

1-minute GOES-17 True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below) revealed a series of “pyrocumulus jump” events (beginning around 01 UTC), when smoke/cloud material was ejected to higher altitudes than the primary smoke plume.

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1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-17 (GOES-West) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed the convective banding associated with Tropical Invest 90E in the East Pacific Ocean on 08 May 2021. Invest 90E was centered along a northward bulge in the ITCZ/Monsoon Trough (below).

Invest 90E was located over water characterized by modest Ocean Heat Content and very warm Sea Surface Temperature values (below), favorable factors for further intensification.

===== 09 May Update =====

1-minute GOES-17 Infrared and Visible images on 09 May (above) showed the period where Invest 90E intensified to a Tropical Depression (at 0900 UTC) and then to Tropical Storm Andres at 1500 UTC — the earliest calendar year tropical storm on record in the East Pacific basin. The convective overshooting tops occasionally exhibited infrared brightness temperatures of -90ºC or colder (yellow pixels embedded within dark purple regions).

A GOES-17 Infrared / Water Vapor Difference product (reference) from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) highlighted areas of deep convection where overshooting tops were likely penetrating the tropopause (yellow to red enhancement).

GOES-17 Infrared images, with an overlay of deep-layer wind shear (below) indicated that Andres was approaching an environment of moderate to high shear, which would limit intensification.

===== 10 May Update =====

On 10 May, 1-minute GOES-17 Infrared and Visible images (above) showed that after one final convective burst, the low-level center of Tropical Storm Andres became exposed — and the storm was then downgraded to a Tropical Depression at 2100 UTC.

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