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GOES-19 GLM captures the signature of a bolide over Lake Erie and northern Ohio

By Scott Bachmeier •

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Visible images with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (above) showed the signature of a high-altitude bolide that was moving from southwestern Lake Erie toward far northern Ohio during the 5-minute period ending at 1301 UTC on 17 March 2026. This bolide created a sonic boom that was... Read More

5-minute GOES-19 Visible images with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density [click to play MP4 animation]

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Visible images with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (above) showed the signature of a high-altitude bolide that was moving from southwestern Lake Erie toward far northern Ohio during the 5-minute period ending at 1301 UTC on 17 March 2026. This bolide created a sonic boom that was heard in several communities.

GLM gridded products such as Flash Extent Density are plotted to correspond to a mean cloud top height — which is about 10 km over CONUS. Non-gridded GLM parameters such as Groups (below) include a parallax correction that maps them to the surface — which if removed, shifts the Group locations to the north so that they more closely correspond to the location of the Flash Extent Density signature.

GOES-19 Visible image at 1301 UTC on 17 March, with 5-minute GLM Groups (red) plotted in their default “cloud top” locations and parallax-corrected “surface” locations [click to enlarge]

A map of fireball reports from the American Meteor Society site (below) displayed the large area from which this event was seen. A closer view indicated that the bolide likely traveled along a north-to-south trajectory. More details on the asteroid that caused the fireball is available here.

Map of fireball reports [click to enlarge]

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Circular contrails south of Dallas/Fort Worth

By Scott Bachmeier •

5-minute GOES-19 (GOES-East) Visible, Near-Infrared “Cirrus”, Mid-level Water Vapor and Clean Infrared Window images (above) displayed a set of curved contrails that formed south-southeast of Dallas/Fort Worth — created by 2 passenger aircraft in holding patterns, before eventually landing at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (KIAH) — which then drifted... Read More

5-minute GOES-19 Red Visible (0.64 µm, left) along with Near-Infrared “Cirrus” (1.38 µm), Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) and Clean Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (right), from 1256-1501 UTC on 16 March; rawinsonde sites are plotted in red, while airport identifiers are plotted in gray [click to play MP4 animation]

5-minute GOES-19 (GOES-East) Visible, Near-Infrared “Cirrus”, Mid-level Water Vapor and Clean Infrared Window images (above) displayed a set of curved contrails that formed south-southeast of Dallas/Fort Worth — created by 2 passenger aircraft in holding patterns, before eventually landing at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (KIAH) — which then drifted southeast toward the Texas coast on the morning of 16 March 2026.

The curved contrails were also seen in GOES-19 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below).

5-minute GOES-19 True Color RGB images, from 1301-1501 UTC on 16 March [click to play MP4 animation]

Flight track maps from FlightAware showed the holding pattern ovals taken by 2 United Airlines flights (at altitudes of 32000-33000 ft) northwest of KIAH (below).

UAL1450 fight track map [click to enlarge]


UAL1464 flight track map [click to enlarge]

A plot of rawinsonde data from Fort Worth at 1200 UTC (below) showed a moist layer from 294-217 hPa (30000-36000 ft), where these contrails likely developed and persisted.

Plot of rawinsonde data from Fort Worth, Texas at 1200 UTC on 16 March [click to enlarge]

Other examples of circular contrails have been previously documented on this blog.

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Morrill Fire burns over 643000 acres in the Nebraska Panhandle

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of Next Generation Fire System (NGFS) Fire Detection polygons (above) displayed the thermal signatures and daytime smoke plume associated with the Morrill Fire (Watch Duty | InciWeb) in the Nebraska Panhandle on 12 March 2026 (the initial NGFS detection was at 1939 UTC). Surface observations in the vicinity... Read More

1-minute GOES-19 GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection polygons (with/without County outlines + surface observations) from 1930 UTC on 12 March to 0500 UTC on 13 March [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) GeoColor RGB images with an overlay of Next Generation Fire System (NGFS) Fire Detection polygons (above) displayed the thermal signatures and daytime smoke plume associated with the Morrill Fire (Watch Duty | InciWeb) in the Nebraska Panhandle on 12 March 2026 (the initial NGFS detection was at 1939 UTC). Surface observations in the vicinity of the fire depicted wind gusts exceeding 60 mph at times (for example, at sites north and southwest of the fire at 2141 UTC). These strong winds — along with dry fuels from ongoing extreme drought conditions — helped the fire to make a rapid southeast run of about 65 miles in 6 hours. Burning over 643000 acres, the Morrill Fire has become the largest wildfire on record for the state of Nebraska; one fatality was directly attributed to the fire.

The initial southeastward run of the fire transitioned to a more gradual southward spread around 0300 UTC on 13 March, as a cold front moved southward across the region (surface analyses). The GOES-19 3.9 µm shortwave infrared brightness temperature first reached 138ºC — the saturation temperature of GOES-19 ABI Band 7 detectors — at 0236 UTC.

During the subsequent nighttime hours, the bright glow of the Morrill Fire was evident in a NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band image (source) at 0907 UTC on 13 March (below).

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band image at 0907 UTC on 13 March, centered on the Morrill Fire [click to enlarge]

During the afternoon hours of 13 March, a toggle between NOAA-21 VIIRS True Color RGB and Day Fire RGB images (below) showed the large size of the Morrill Fire burn scar at 1931 UTC, with some fires (shades of red in the Day Fire RGB) still active along the periphery of the burn scar.

NOAA-21 VIIRS True Color RGB and Day Fire RGB images at 1931 UTC on 13 March [click to enlarge]

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Tehuano gap wind event

By Scott Bachmeier •

As a strong arctic cold front moved southward across the Gulf of Mexico toward southern Mexico on 12 March 2026, the cold front fractured as it moved inland across Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec — the cold air was then channeled southward through Chivela Pass and emerged as a Tehuano (or “Tehuantepecer“)... Read More

10-minute True Color RGB images from GOES-18 (left) and GOES-19 (right) [click to play MP4 animation]

As a strong arctic cold front moved southward across the Gulf of Mexico toward southern Mexico on 12 March 2026, the cold front fractured as it moved inland across Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec — the cold air was then channeled southward through Chivela Pass and emerged as a Tehuano (or “Tehuantepecer“) gap wind that eventually fanned outward across the Gulf of Tehuantepec and the adjacent Pacific Ocean. 10-minute Full Disk scan GOES-18 (GOES-West) and GOES-19 (GOES-East) True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (above) showed the hazy plume of dust that was being transported offshore by the Tehuano flow.

A GCOM-W1 AMSR2 wind speed image (below) displayed the leading edge of the Tehuano winds (shades of green) as they began flowing southward across the Gulf of Tehuantepec.

GCOM-W1 AMSR2 wind speed image at 1934 UTC on 12 March

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