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30-second GOES-16 imagery of rapidly-developing severe thunderstorms over the Midwest

By Scott Bachmeier •

Overlapping 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sectors provided GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images at 30-second intervals (above) — which showed rapidly-developing thunderstorms over northeastern Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas and southwestern Missouri on 28 April 2020. These storms developed along and ahead of an approaching cold front, and produced large hail and damaging winds (SPC Storm Reports).The corresponding 30-second GOES-16... Read More

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC Storm Reports plotted in red [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with time-matched SPC Storm Reports plotted in red [click to play animation | MP4]

Overlapping 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sectors provided GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images at 30-second intervals (above) — which showed rapidly-developing thunderstorms over northeastern Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas and southwestern Missouri on 28 April 2020. These storms developed along and ahead of an approaching cold front, and produced large hail and damaging winds (SPC Storm Reports).

The corresponding 30-second GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images are shown below.

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

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

NOAA-20 Gridded NUCAPS fields of Most-Unstable CAPE at 1927 UTC (below) indicated that an axis of high instability existed along the Kansas/Missouri border shortly preceding convective initiation.

VIIRS Visible image with available NUCAPS soundings + Gridded NUCAPS Most-Unstable CAPE [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Visible (0.64 µm) image with available NUCAPS sounding points + Gridded NUCAPS Most-Unstable CAPE [click to enlarge]

NUCAPS profile for the green point located in far eastern Kansas [click to enlarge]

NUCAPS profile for the green sounding point located in far eastern Kansas [click to enlarge]

Within that axis of instability along the Kansas/Missouri border, the NUCAPS profile for the green (using both Infrared and Microwave retrievals) sounding point in far eastern Kansas (located northeast of Chanute, station identifier KCNU) is shown above —  for the Most Unstable air parcel, calculated CAPE was 3714 J/kg, with a Lifted Index of -12ºC.

Farther to the south, the NUCAPS profile for the yellow (using only Microwave retrievals) sounding point (located east-southeast of KCNU) is shown below — for the Most Unstable air parcel, calculated CAPE was 3714 J/kg, with a Lifted Index of -14ºC.

NUCAPS profile for the yellow sounding point located in far eastern Kansas [click to enlarge]

NUCAPS profile for the yellow sounding point located in far eastern Kansas [click to enlarge]

The closest rawinsonde report (in terms of time and distance) was from Springfield in southwestern Missouri at 18 UTC (below) — it indicated Most Unstable CAPE and Lifted Index values of 3060 J/kg and -6ºC, respectively. The later availability of NUCAPS soundings closer to the region of convective initiation revealed the rapid atmospheric destabilization that allowed for explosive development of the severe thunderstorms as seen on GOES-16 imagery.

Plot of 18 UTC rawinsonde data from Springfield, Missouri [click to enlarge]

Plot of 18 UTC rawinsonde data from Springfield, Missouri [click to enlarge]

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Damaging winds from a severe thunderstorm in Texas

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (above) showed an isolated large thunderstorm moving east-southeastward across the Mexico/Texas border region during the early evening hours on 27 April 2020. Concentric storm-top gravity waves could be seen propagating radially outward from... Read More

GOES-16 "Clean" Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density [click to play animation | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (above) showed an isolated large thunderstorm moving east-southeastward across the Mexico/Texas border region during the early evening hours on 27 April 2020. Concentric storm-top gravity waves could be seen propagating radially outward from the storm center (for example, at 0211 UTC) — and pulsing overshooting tops were evident, with the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature of -77.5ºC  occurring at 0128 UTC.

After about 0030 UTC, the GLM Flash Extent Density (FED) began to increase with this storm — in fact, the FED just northwest of Del Rio International Airport (KDRT) rapidly rose from 122 flashes per 5 minutes at 0119 UTC to 189 flashes per 5 minutes at 0139 UTC. During the period of this lightning jump, damaging winds — including a wind gust of 77 mph at KDRT at 0135 UTC — occurred in the Del Rio area (SPC Storm Reports).

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VIIRS views volcanic activity at Nishinoshima in the western Pacific

By Scott Lindstrom •

Nishinoshima is a small volcanic island (at 27.2471° N, 140.8779° E) about 150 km west of Chichijima.)  Nishinoshima has grown in size over the past decades because of volcanic activity, including activity (apparently accompanied by occasional earthquakes) that started in March 2020.   Day Night Band imagery from NOAA-20, above, (toggled with an annotated image) shows the light from... Read More

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day Night Band Visible (0.70 µm) imagery,  1603 UTC 19 April 2020, Click to enlarge)

Nishinoshima is a small volcanic island (at 27.2471° N, 140.8779° E) about 150 km west of Chichijima.)  Nishinoshima has grown in size over the past decades because of volcanic activity, including activity (apparently accompanied by occasional earthquakes) that started in March 2020.   Day Night Band imagery from NOAA-20, above, (toggled with an annotated image) shows the light from the ongoing volcanic activity on 19 April 2020 (Clean Window Infrared imagery also showed a heat source).  (Day Night Band imagery is also available here, from NASA Worldview)

Many thanks to Brandon Aydlett, WFO Guam, for the imagery.

The toggle below (imagery courtesy William Straka, CIMSS), shows more NOAA-20 VIIRS data from the same NOAA-20 pass:  Day Night Band Imagery, 3.75 µm Shortwave Infrared imagery (Band I04), 1.61 µm near-infrared imagery (Band M10) and 2.26 µm (Band M11),  4.05 µm Shortwave Imagery (Band M13), and the VIIRS Active Fire Product.  All show evidence of the hot spot over the volcano.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Imagery at 1607 UTC on 19 April 2020: Day Night Band (0.7 µm) Visible Imagery, I04 Band (3.75 µm Shortwave Infrared), M10 Band (1.61 µm Near Infrared), M11 Band (2.25 µm Near-Infrared), M13 Band (4.05 µm Shortwave Infrared) and the VIIRS Active Fire Product (Click to enlarge)

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Prolific lightning-producing MCS in eastern Mexico

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 (GOES- East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with and without plots of GLM Groups (above) showed a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) that was propagating southward across eastern Mexico (in advance of an approaching cold front) from 2001 UTC on 25 April to 1501 UTC on 26 April 2020. The coldest... Read More

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with and without GLM Groups plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES- East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with and without plots of GLM Groups (above) showed a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) that was propagating southward across eastern Mexico (in advance of an approaching cold front) from 2001 UTC on 25 April to 1501 UTC on 26 April 2020. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were -90ºC (yellow pixels embedded within dark purple regions). This MCS was prolific lightning-producer — which included numerous anvil streamers that extended well east and northeast of the main convective core (below).

GOES-16 "Clean" Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with and without GLM Groups plotted in cyan, at 0421 UTC on 26 April [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with and without GLM Groups plotted in cyan, at 0421 UTC on 26 April [click to enlarge]

A toggle between NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) and Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images at 0841 UTC (below) also revealed isolated pixels in the overshooting top region with brightness temperatures of -90ºC (yellow enhancement) — along with numerous bright lightning streaks in the Day/Night Band image, located well east of the convective core (consistent with the GOES–16 GLM imagery). At that time, the core of the MCS was located just off the coast of Mexico, between Poza Rica (MMPA) and Veracruz (MMVR).

NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) and Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images at 0841 UTC [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) and Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images at 0841 UTC [click to enlarge]

Plots of rawinsonde data from Veracruz, Mexico (below) showed that the coldest tropopause temperatures were -78.1ºC at a pressure level of 103 hPa — so the coldest GOES-16 and NOAA-20 infrared brightness temperatures of -90ºC indicated overshooting tops extending well about the tropopause.

Plots of rawinsonde data from Veracruz, Mexico [click to enlarge]

Plots of rawinsonde data from Veracruz, Mexico [click to enlarge]

On 25 April, GOES-16 True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images created using Geo2Grid (below) portrayed a well-defined rope cloud with an undular bore along the cold frontal boundary. Also evident was widespread dense smoke across much of the Gulf of Mexico, a result of prolonged fire activity in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and parts of Central America.

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

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


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