GOES-17 (GOES-West) True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images created using Geo2Grid (above) displayed the hazy signature of smoke which was being transported by the circulation of a midlatitude cyclone over the North Pacific Ocean on 21 April 2020.

Since there was no distinct pink-colored dust signal seen in corresponding Dust RGB imagery (below), smoke was the likely airborne aerosol type; recent fire activity in areas such as northern China could have been the source of the smoke.

 

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Just one week after a deadly tornado outbreak across the Deep South, 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) with time-matched plots of SPC Storm Reports (above) showed the development of thunderstorms over Louisiana that crossed the Mississippi border and went on to produce a long-track tornado that produced EF-4 damage on 19 April 2020. Pulsing updraft behavior and the appearance of an Above-Anvil Cirrus Plume was observed with 2 of the thunderstorms as they moved across far southern Mississippi.

Focusing on the 10-minute period 2340-2350 UTC, a sequence of GOES-16 Visible, Infrared and GLM Flash Extent Density (below) revealed a well-defined overshooting top turret which exhibited a minimum infrared brightness temperature of -87.2ºC at 2349 UTC — and a lightning jump where the FED increased to 44 flashes per minute at 2348 UTC. The long-track tornado began about 20 minutes later, at 0010 UTC on 20 April.

Corrected graphic with the correct path length. pic.twitter.com/JoSZPdYHe9

— NWS Jackson MS (@NWSJacksonMS) April 21, 2020

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GOES-16 (GOES-East) True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images created using Geo2Grid (above) revealed the complex motion of ice eddies in the Labrador Sea — within the Labrador Current off the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland, Canada — on 18 April 2020. According to the Canadian Ice Service, this First-year ice was of below-normal concentration.

Thanks to Antonio Vecoli for bringing these features to our attention.

Wide sea ice drawings close to eastern coasts of #Labrador peninsula,as seen yesterday by @CopernicusEU #Sentinel3 #Canada #ocean @ESA_EO @SatelliteSci @weatherdak @CIMSS_Satellite @UWCIMSS @PlymouthMarine @Oceanjournal @futurasciences @RAL_Space_STFC @CanadianGIS @RCGS_SGRC pic.twitter.com/KtEBaaW8M6

— antonio vecoli (@tonyveco) April 19, 2020

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GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Day Cloud Phase Distinction Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images (above) revealed the rapid melting of parts of a broad swath of fresh snow cover (green in the RGB images) across the High Pains and Midwest on 17 April 2020. The snow melted quickly in central Nebraska (where storm totals were generally less than 4 inches), but persisted in the Foothills of Colorado (where storm totals amounts of 10-20 inches were common).

A closer look at the eastern segment of the snow cover over eastern Nebraska, southern Iowa and northern Missouri (below) showed the effect of snow-cooled surfaces on suppressing the formation of cumulus clouds as diurnal heating increased into the afternoon hours. Surface air temperatures warmed into the upper 40s to low 50s F in areas where the snow melted — but were held in the upper 30s to low 40s F where deeper snow cover existed near the Iowa/Missouri border (where storm total amounts were as high as 12-16 inches).

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