As a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) over Kansas and Oklahoma decayed during the morning hours of 16 July 2020, GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) and Near-Infrared “Cirrus” (1.38 µm) images (above) depicted widespread transverse banding — tendrils of cirrus clouds oriented perpendicular to the upper-tropospheric wind flow — along the northern periphery of the MCS. An AIRMET was issued for that region (advising of moderate turbulence between 30,000 and 43,000 feet), and there were numerous Pilot Reports (PIREPs) of light to moderate turbulence in the general vicinity of these transverse banding features.

A GOES-16 Turbulence Probability product (below) did show scattered pockets of 25-35% probability in the transverse banding region. However, this product is designed to diagnose turbulence potential in the vicinity of features such as fronts and fields of convection.

Such transverse banding cloud features are frequently observed around the periphery of decaying MCSs (for example, June 2018 and July 2016) and in the vicinity of strong upper-tropospheric jet streaks (for example, February 2020 and March 2016).

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The animation above steps between NUCAPS Sounding Availability points and MIRS estimates of Rain Rate derived from NOAA-20’s Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) instrument (and available via LDM download from CIMSS).  ‘Red’ points in NUCAPS sounding availability are usually associated with precipitation, and that relationship is apparent in the toggle.  With the exception of four red points in southwestern Colorado, falling precipitation is diagnosed by the ATMS where red points are shown.

A zoomed-in view of those 4 points in SW Colorado, superimposed on GOES-16 ABI Band 13 (10.3 µm) infrared imagery is shown below.  The profile at the green point in the middle of the red points is here;  you can also view the northernmost red point, the westernmost red point, the southeasternmost red point, and the other red point.  Note that all soundings are very similar;  a conclusion might be that for those points, conversion in the retrieval is not the cause of the red (the alternative reason for ‘red’ is failure in cloud clearing).

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Rain Rate is a GOES-16 level 2 Derived Product that uses the infrared bands on the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI).  Satellite-derived rain products are especially important in regions where radar observations are unavailable (because of radar maintenance, or because no radar exists), or where observations are blocked by terrain (i.e., beam-blocking).  The toggle is zoomed in over the mesoscale systems over Kansas and Iowa/Missouri and includes the GOES-16 Clean Window, the GOES-16 Rain Rate and the MIRS Rain Rate (derived from direct broadcast data at UW-Madison CIMSS; information on MIRS Processing is here and here.) and a 1-hour radar-derived product. Each of these rainfall estimates have different spatial and temporal resolutions, and that makes intercomparison challenging.

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CIMSS (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies) is now 40 years old, as it was established in 1980. From “about CIMSS: “… is a Cooperative Institute formed through a Memorandum of Understanding between the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1980. CIMSS operates as an institute within the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC)”.

The CIMSS mission includes three goals:

• Foster collaborative research among NOAA, NASA, and the University in those aspects of atmospheric and earth system sciences that exploit the use of satellite technology;
• Serve as a center at which scientists and engineers working on problems of mutual interest can focus on satellite-related research in atmospheric and earth system science;
• Stimulate the training of scientists and engineers in the disciplines involved in atmospheric and earth science.

The same image, but full resolution (11 MB).

Then and Now

The above image pair compare a NASA SMS from 1980 to an GOES-16 ABI true color composite from 2020. Both images are from July 14th. The GOES-16 data was generated using Geo2Grid software.

The data are via SSEC Data Services.

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Severe thunderstorms affected much of the Upper Midwest on 11 July 2020 — and 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed two separate clusters of thunderstorms that moved southeastward across Iowa, producing large hail and damaging winds (SPC Storm Reports). The initial round of storms produced a curved outflow boundary across central and eastern Iowa — and several orphan anvils could be seen forming along this outflow boundary before the second round of storms arrived. Numerous pulsing overshooting tops were evident within each of the storm clusters.

The corresponding GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images are shown below. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were around -70ºC.

For the second round of storms that developed in far southern Minnesota during the early afternoon hours, GOES-16 Visible images (above) and Infrared images (below) include time-matched plots of SPC Storm Reports.

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Farther to the southwest, severe thunderstorms produced a north-to-south swath of large hail (up to 4.0 inches in diameter) and damaging winds across eastern Kansas (SPC Storm Reports). 1-minute GOES-16 Visible images (above) and Infrared images (below) showed these storms, whose pulsing overshooting tops eventually exhibited infrared brightness temperatures of -80ºC and colder (violet pixels).

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