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Satellite signatures of a meteor in the Bering Sea

By Scott Bachmeier •

A meteor entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Bering Sea (east of Kamchatka) on 18 December 2018. Himawari-8 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed a bright streak at 23:50 UTC — and a dark-colored debris trail was also evident northwest of this bright streak, which subsequently drifted northeastward. Signatures... Read More

Himawari-8

Himawari-8 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

A meteor entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Bering Sea (east of Kamchatka) on 18 December 2018. Himawari-8 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed a bright streak at 23:50 UTC — and a dark-colored debris trail was also evident northwest of this bright streak, which subsequently drifted northeastward. Signatures of the meteor were also captured with the Terra satellite.

A warm thermal anomaly was apparent (at the southern end of the bright streak) on the 2350 UTC Himawari-8 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) image (below).

Himawari-8 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images at 2350 UTC [click to enlarge]

Himawari-8 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images at 2350 UTC [click to enlarge]

GOES-17 was only scanning the Full Disk at 15-minute intervals, so the initial bright meteor streak that was seen with Himawari-8  was not not captured; however, the dark meteor debris cloud drifting northeastward could be followed on Visible imagery (below).

GOES-17 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play MP4 animation | MP4]

GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

* GOES-17 images shown here are preliminary and non-operational *

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Rare December tornado in Washington

By Scott Bachmeier •

Preliminary Damage Results for Port Orchard Tornado have been released. Survey finds EF-2 #tornado damage from Tuesday December 18th. Details in graphic and at: https://t.co/fnaZxgYG6U #wawx #PortOrchardTornado pic.twitter.com/jxpsBgkmgC — NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) December 19, 2018 * GOES-17 images shown here are preliminary and non-operational *A rare December tornado occurred in Port Orchard, Washington... Read More


GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with plots of hourly surface reports and SPC storm reports [click to play animation | MP4]

* GOES-17 images shown here are preliminary and non-operational *

A rare December tornado occurred in Port Orchard, Washington on 18 December 2018. GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (below) showed the thunderstorms that moved eastward across the area in the wake of the passage of an occluded front earlier in the day.

GOES-17 "Clean" Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with plots of hourly surface reports and SPC storm reports [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-17 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with plots of hourly surface reports and SPC storm reports [click to play animation | MP4]

Due to the relatively large GOES-17 satellite viewing angle (or zenith angle) of 56.38 degrees, there was a modest amount of parallax error in terms of the actual location of cloud-top features associated with the tornado-producing storm. A toggle between GOES-17 Visible and Infrared images at 2147 UTC with SPC tornado reports plotted at their actual and “parallax-corrected” locations (assuming a mean storm-top height of 8 km) are shown below — note how the parallax-corrected tornado plot location more closely aligns with top the parent thunderstorm.

GOES-17 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm) image at 2147 UTC, with SPC tornado report plots at their actual and "parallax-corrected" locations [click to enlarge]

GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) image at 2147 UTC, with SPC tornado report plots at their actual and “parallax-corrected” locations [click to enlarge]

GOES-17 "Clean" Infrared Window (10.3 µm) image at 2147 UTC, with SPC tornado report plots at their actual and "parallax-corrected" locations [click to enlarge]

GOES-17 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) image at 2147 UTC, with SPC tornado report plots at their actual and “parallax-corrected” locations [click to enlarge]

A comparison of VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from Suomi NPP (Washington overpass time: 2042 UTC) and NOAA-20 (Washington overpass time: 2132 UTC) is shown below. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures on the VIIRS images were -42ºC (bright green enhancement), which corresponded to altitudes of 7-8 km on 00 UTC rawinsonde data from Quillayute, Washington (plot).

VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from Suomi NPP (overpass time 2042 UTC) and NOAA-20 (overpass time 2132 UTC) [click to enlarge]

VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from Suomi NPP (overpass time 2042 UTC) and NOAA-20 (overpass time 2132 UTC), with the location of the SPC tornado report plotted in red [click to enlarge]

A toggle between NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images at the local overpass times of 1952 UTC and 2132 UTC, viewed using RealEarth (below), provided a closer view of the convection.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images at 1952 UTC and 2032 UTC [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images at 1952 UTC and 2032 UTC [click to enlarge]

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Contrails along the Florida coast

By Scott Bachmeier •

A pair of circular contrails was seen along the coast of the Florida Panhandle in GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Near-Infrared “Cirrus” (1.37 µm) and Low-level Water Vapor (7.3 µm) images (above) on 18 December 2018. The contrail features were moving eastward at speed of 50-60 knots.GOES-16 Water Vapor weighting functions derived using 12 UTC rawinsonde data from... Read More

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, top), Near-Infrared “Cirrus” (1.37 µm, middle) and Low-level Water Vapor (7.3 µm, bottom) images [click to play animation | MP4]

A pair of circular contrails was seen along the coast of the Florida Panhandle in GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Near-Infrared “Cirrus” (1.37 µm) and Low-level Water Vapor (7.3 µm) images (above) on 18 December 2018. The contrail features were moving eastward at speed of 50-60 knots.

GOES-16 Water Vapor weighting functions derived using 12 UTC rawinsonde data from Tallahassee, Florida (below) revealed significant contributions by radiation being sensed from levels peaking at either 424 hPa or 442 hPa with all 3 spectral bands — due to a shallow layer of mid-tropospheric moisture — with secondary higher-altitude weighting function peaks around the 300 hPa pressure level.

Water Vapor weighting functions derived using 12 UTC rawinsonde data from Tallahassee, Florida [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Water Vapor weighting functions derived using 12 UTC rawinsonde data from Tallahassee, Florida [click to enlarge]

Wind speeds from 12 UTC Tallahassee rawinsonde data (below) were 50 knots or greater above the 300 hPa layer, which suggests the contrails existed near that level — and the increased moisture at that high altitude allowed the contrails to persist for nearly 2.5 hours before dissipating.

Plot of 12 UTC rawinsonde data from Tallahassee, Florida [click to enlarge]

Plot of 12 UTC rawinsonde data from Tallahassee, Florida [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Infrared and Water Vapor winds (source) also showed wind speeds of 50 or greater at higher altitudes in the general vicinity of these contrail features (below).

GOES-16 Infrared and Water Vapor winds [click to play animation]

GOES-16 Infrared and Water Vapor winds [click to play animation]

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Orographic standing wave cloud over the Mid-Atlantic states

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 (GOES-East) Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level (6.2 µm) Water Vapor images (above) showed the development of an orographic standing wave cloud — downwind of the Appalachian Mountains (topography) — over the Mid-Atlantic states on 17 December 2018. North of the wave cloud, widespread short-wavelength mountain waves were seen at lower elevations... Read More

Topography + GOES-16 Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level (6.2 µm) Water Vapor images, with pilot reports of turbulence [click to play MP4 animation]

Topography + GOES-16 Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level (6.2 µm) Water Vapor images, with pilot reports of turbulence [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level (6.2 µm) Water Vapor images (above) showed the development of an orographic standing wave cloud — downwind of the Appalachian Mountains (topography) — over the Mid-Atlantic states on 17 December 2018. North of the wave cloud, widespread short-wavelength mountain waves were seen at lower elevations over and to the lee of the high terrain (even extending out over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New Jersey and New York). There were scattered pilot reports of turbulence across the region, with Severe turbulence being reported around 18 UTC and 00 UTC.

A comparison of GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor, Cloud Top Phase and Cloud Top Height products at 2007 UTC (below) indicated that this wave cloud was composed of Cirrus with maximum cloud tops around 30,000 feet.

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm), Cloud Top Phase and Cloud Top Height products [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm), Cloud Top Phase and Cloud Top Height products [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) image at 2102 UTC, showing the orientation of a nortwest-southeast cross section [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) image at 2102 UTC, showing the orientation of a northwest-southeast cross section [click to enlarge]

A GOES-16 Water Vapor image at 2102 UTC (above) showed the orientation of a northwest-to-southeast cross section of RUC40 model Relative Humidity, Wind Speed and Adiabatic Omega fields (below). In the middle of the cross section, a couplet of downward/upward motion aloft was seen over the Glen Allen VA area, with higher relative humidity values (shades of blue) above the 500 hPa pressure level corresponding to the wave cloud.

Northwest-southeast cross section of RUC40 model Relative Humidity, Wind Speed and Adiabatic Omega [click to enlarge]

Northwest-southeast cross section of RUC40 model Relative Humidity, Wind Speed and Adiabatic Omega [click to enlarge]

The standing wave cloud developed in the exit region of a branch of the polar jet stream that was diving southeastward across the Great Lakes — strong deceleration created an axis of deformation oriented from southwest to northeast (below), helping the stretch the wave cloud  feature as it slowly pivoted toward the southeast and along the coast. The strong downward motion component of the Omega couplet seen in the cross section was responsible for the relatively sharp upwind (northwest) edge exhibited by the wave cloud.

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images, with RAP40 model 250 hPa isotachs and deformation vectors [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images, with RAP40 model 250 hPa isotachs and deformation vectors [click to play animation | MP4]

A toggle between NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images viewed using RealEarth (below) provided a detailed view of the wave cloud at 1825 UTC. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were around -50ºC (bright yellow enhancement), which was just above the 300 hPa pressure level on 00 UTC soundings at Roanoke/Blacksburg and Wallops Island Virginia.

NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images [click to enlarge]

As pointed out by Jonathan Blaes (NWS Raleigh), these standing wave clouds can have an effect on surface temperatures beneath the feature:



A comparison of 1812 UTC Aqua MODIS Visible (0.65 µm), Infrared Window (11.0 µm), Near-Infrared “Cirrus” (1.37 µm) and Water Vapor (6.7 µm) images with plots of maximum temperatures on 17 December (below) revealed that high temperatures were confined to the upper 50s F beneath the wave cloud, in contrast to low 60s F on either side where incoming solar radiation was not diminished.

Aqua MODIS Visible (0.65 µm), Infrared Window (11.0 µm), Near-Infrared "Cirrus" (1.37 µm) and Water Vapor (6.7 µm) images, with plots of maximum temperatures on 17 December [click to enlarge]

Topography + Aqua MODIS Visible (0.65 µm), Infrared Window (11.0 µm), Near-Infrared “Cirrus” (1.37 µm) and Water Vapor (6.7 µm) images, with plots of maximum temperatures on 17 December [click to enlarge]

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