1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-17 (GOES-West) Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed a wind-driven increase in areal coverage and smoke production from the Kincade Fire in Northern California on 27 October 2019. The fire made a rapid southwestward run of approximately 10 miles toward Highway 101 (plotted in red), as Diablo Winds increased during the nighttime hours — a wind gust of 102 mph was recorded at Pine Flat Road and 93 mph near Healdsburg Hills.

GOES-17 True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images from the AOS site (below) showed how Kincade Fire smoke expanded across the Pacific Ocean during the day.

A sequence of VIIRS Shortwave Infrared (3.74 µm) images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 (below) showed the southwestward expansion of the large thermal anomaly associated with  the fire (Note: the NOAA-20 images are incorrectly labeled as Suomi NPP).

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GOES-16 and GOES-17, although separated by 60 of longitude, can be combined to create stereoscopic imagery in the Gulf of Mexico. The top-most animation, from 24 October 2019, shows the disturbance in the southwest Gulf of Mexico that ulimately becomes Tropical Storm Olga. The bottom animation is from 25 October, a day when the low-level circulation of the storm is apparent.

Tropical Storm Olga is at the northern edge of a very moist airmass as determined from Microwave measurements.  The MIMIC animation, below, from this site, shows the extent of the moist region.  (The moisture associated with Pablo is also apparent)  Dry air moving into the Gulf of Mexico from Texas is restricting the horizontal extent of the moisture. That front moving into the Gulf is expected to overtake Olga as it transitions to an extratropical storm. Heavy rains with this system have already moved into Louisiana and Mississippi.

For more information on Tropical Storm Olga, refer to the website of the National Hurricane Center. Interests along the Gulf Coast and inland should pay attention to this storm.

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GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) displayed the compact circulation and pinhole eye of Tropical Storm Pablo which developed in the East Atlantic Ocean on 25 October 2019.

A toggle between Suomi NPP VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images viewed using RealEarth  provided a higher-resolution view of Pablo around 15 UTC (below).

A larger-scale view of the VIIRS images (below) showed that the compact Pablo was embedded within a broad anomalously-deep area of low pressure over the eastern Atlantic.

===== 26 October Update =====

GOES-16 Visible and Infrared images (above) showed Tropical Storm Pablo southwest of the Azores on 26 October.

After sunset, GOES-16 Infrared images (below) captured Pablo as it pass across the Azores, southeast of Santa Maria (LPAZ) — during that time, the tropical cyclone lost its intermittent eye feature.

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1-minute interval (and 30-second interval, beginning at 0730 UTC) Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-17 (GOES-West) multi-panel images showing all 16 ABI spectral bands (above) revealed the hot thermal signature of the Kincade Fire in Northern California on 24 October 2019. The fire thermal anomaly first became evident in Shortwave Infrared and Near-Infrared imagery at 0421 UTC or 9:21 PM PDT on 23 October (0421 UTC image | 6-minute animation). A weather station close to the fire (Healdsburg Hills) recorded winds gusting to 76 mph less than 2 hours after the fire started; at that time, the Relative Humidity was only 11%. Above-normal temperatures were also present across that region of California, with Downtown Oakland setting a daily record high of 89ºF.

At times the fire’s hot thermal emissions were detected by 13 of the 16 spectral bands — including very subtle signatures in the “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Near-Infrared “Vegetation” (0.86 µm) and “Cirrus” (1.38 µm), and Low-level Water Vapor (7.34 µm) bands (below). The hottest Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) brightness temperature observed was 138.7ºC (411.9 K), which is the saturation temperature for those ABI detectors.

Since overlapping 1-minute GOES-17 Mesoscale Sectors provided 30-second Visible images, the westward transport of dense smoke from the fire source could be followed in great temporal and spatial detail (below). Note that a ship about 50 miles offshore reported smoke at 18 UTC. Just south of the dense plume, smoke was being reported at Santa Rosa — but the surface visibility remained at 10 miles.

A larger-scale view using the GOES-17 CIMSS Natural Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) product (below) indicated that smoke had been transported about 400 miles offshore by 20 UTC.

A toggle between Terra MODIS True Color and False Color RGB images from the MODIS Today site (below) provided a more detailed view of the smoke plume and the thermal anomaly (shades of pink to red) associated with the large Kincade Fire (as well as the much smaller Muir Fire near the coast, north of San Francisco).

A comparison of Suomi NPP VIIRS Shortwave Infrared (3.74 µm) images at 0900 and 2023 UTC (below) showed the expansion of the fire’s thermal anomaly (red to black pixels) during that ~11.5 hour period.

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