Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) data from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 can be used to create accurate sea-surface temperature (SST) fields using the Advanced Clear-Sky Processor for Ocean (ACSPO) algorithms.  The toggle above shows ACSPO SSTs over the Gulf of Maine from Suomi NPP (at 0620 UTC) and from NOAA-20 (at 0710 UTC) — orbital paths can be found here.  Waters over the Gulf of Maine are relatively warm (around 41ºF) compared to the very cold waters (about 38ºF) southeast of Nova Scotia!

VIIRS’ view of the Gulf Stream is shown below — with the colorbar range from 59º to 86º F (compared to 20º to 100º for the Gulf of Maine image above).  Warmest Gulf Stream waters are around 85º, but more uniformly near 82º F, with shelf waters near 74º F and tropical Atlantic waters near 77º.

VIIRS-based ACSPO SSTs are available via an LDM feed from CIMSS. Previous blog posts on ACSPO SSTs are here and here.

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GOES-16 (GOES-East) Dust Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images (above) showed a pink plume of blowing dust – created by northwesterly surface  winds gusting as high as 49 knots or 56 mph – moving over parts of Interstates 29, 35 and 70 in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri on 05 May 2020. The visibility briefly dropped to 8 miles at St. Joseph, Missouri (KSTJ) — but was greatly reduced along portions of Interstate 29 in Nebraska/Iowa.

Gusty winds in western Iowa are creating areas of blowing dust, which is causing reduced visibility on roadways. This is I-29 south of Pacific Junction. #iawx https://t.co/K7kDkTHKN2

— NWS Des Moines (@NWSDesMoines) May 5, 2020

Due to the winds I was Driving thru a mini haboob going to Fremont on Hwy 275. pic.twitter.com/f1WpFr7k1V

— ElPerron (@panchoRF887) May 5, 2020

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images (below) revealed north-south oriented gravity waves over the same region. These were either vertically-propagating waves initiated by the strong surface winds, or waves that were forced by decelerating flow in the wake of a lower/middle tropospheric jet streak that was rotating through the Lower Missouri River Valley. Although turbulence AIRMETs had been issued for the area, there were no pilot reports confirming the presence of turbulence.

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A Landsat-8 False Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) image as viewed using RealEarth (above) showed areas of flooding (water = darker shades of blue) along portions of the Innoko River and the Iditarod River in Southwest Alaska on 05 May 2020. Much of southwestern Alaska had received above-average winter season snowfall — and rapid snow melt was contributing to this river flooding.

The Suomi NPP VIIRS River Flood Areal Extent product over that same region (below) indicated several areas of 81-90% flooding coverage (red enhancement).

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1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed a long-lived Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) or derecho that produced a swath of large hail and damaging winds (SPC Storm Reports | NWS Nashville) from eastern Kansas to central Tennessee, northern Mississippi and northern Alabama on 03 May 2020.

The corresponding GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images are shown below. Pulsing overshooting tops exhibited cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures around -70ºC (black enhancement).

A toggle between NOAA-20 VIIRS Visible (0.64 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (above) included plots of available NUCAPS sounding points. The temperature and dew point profiles for the green sounding point south-southeast of Jackson, Tennessee (station identifier KMKL) revealed a very unstable air mass in the pre-convective environment just ahead of the approaching MCS (below).

Journey of a long-lived damaging mesoscale convective system (aka derecho) from the plains to the south today. #GOESEast split window IR and cold cloud top filtered longwave IR imagery, 17 hour lapse. Feature following zoom 40kts@098 @NOAASatellites @GOESguy pic.twitter.com/Ndp9iFnyXP

— William (@ChurchillWx) May 4, 2020

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