A sequence of GOES-16 (GOES-East) Fire Temperature RGB, Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), Fire Temperature, Fire Power and Fire Area products (above) displayed signatures of widespread fires — a combination of prescribed burns and agricultural fires — across parts of the Deep South on 19 November 2019. Fire Temperature, Fire Power and Fire Area products are components of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm (SHyMet | ATBD).

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with and without plots of surface observations, are shown below. While most of the fires were too small/brief to produce large smoke plumes, a prominent plume was associated with one of the hottest and most long-lived fires — which was likely a prescribed burn — in the Chickasawhay State Wildlife Management Area (located east of Hattiesburg/Laurel Airport KPIB) in southeastern Mississippi.

There were no surface stations downwind of that Mississippi fire; however, one small smoke plume drifted over Lafayette in southern Louisiana (KLFT) near the end of the day, briefly reducing the visibility to 6 miles at 22 UTC (below).

For the hot fire in southeastern Mississippi, GOES-16 Shortwave Infrared, Fire Temperature, Fire Power and Fire Area values are shown for the same hot fire pixel at 1716, 1731 and 1806 UTC (below). Note that the individual parameter trends can be different for a given fire pixel — for example, even though the hottest 3.9 µm brightness temperature value was 58.8ºC at 1806 UTC, the peak Fire Temperature value was 1373.1 K at 1731 UTC. However, the time of the maximum Fire Power value of 213.6 MW coincided with the time of the hottest 3.9 µm brightness temperature value (1806 UTC).

View only this post Read Less

GOES-16 (GOES-East) Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images (above) revealed the presence of elongated W-E oriented billow clouds, many of which exhibited small-scale ripples that were oriented N-S along the billow cloud tops, over coastal areas of South Carolina and North Carolina on 15 November 2019. An initial SIGMET (November 1) was issued covering airspace over Georgia and South Carolina — Severe Turbulence (plotted in red) was reported at 41,000 feet and at 35,000 feet. A second SIGMET (November 2) was later issued covering airspace over South Carolina and North Carolina.

The same GOES-16 Water Vapor images which include isotachs of RAP40 model maximum wind (at any level) are shown below — most of the Moderate to Severe turbulence reports were occurring within the speed gradient along the poleward (left) edge of a SW-NE oriented jet stream flowing parallel to the coast.

More detailed views of the billow-top ripples were provided by a Terra MODIS Visible image at 1600 UTC, and NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and Infrared images as visualized using RealEarth (below).

View only this post Read Less

Geostationary data from KMA‘s GEOKOMPSAT-2 satellite (over the Equator at 128º E Longitude, shown above at right) and from JMA‘s Himawari-8 Satellite (over the Equator at 140º E Longitude, shown above at left) can be used to create stereoscopic imagery. The imagery above, from 0400 and 0500 UTC on 14 November 2019, centered at 15º N, 150º E, shows Typhoon Fengshen. Visible imagery from both satellites show a well-developed central cluster of thunderstorms with little apparent indication of wind shear. Stereoscopic views of the storm allow the vertical structure of the system to be perceived.

Data processing for these images was accomplished using Geo2Grid, a software package that incorporates Satpy. (Previous Blog posts discussing Geo2Grid are here and here).

Very grateful acknowledgement of these data from KMA and from JMA is extended. Thank you!

Added:  Click here for an animation from 0300 to 0550 UTC on 14 November.  (Warning:  Large animated gif at 159 M).

View only this post Read Less

During the course of multiple intrusions of arctic air across the Lower 48 states during early November 2019, a variety of lake-effect, river-effect and bay-effect cloud features were generated — many of which produced varying intensities of snowfall. GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), “Clean:” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) and Day Cloud Phase Distinction Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images on 07 November (above) showed lake-effect clouds streaming south-southeastward across Lake Superior. The Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB images (in tandem with the Infrared images) helped to highlight which cloud features had glaciated and were therefore more capable of producing moderate to heavy lake-effect snow; the dominant band yielded 5-10 inches of snowfall in the central part of northern Michigan.

On 11 November, GOES-16 Nighttime Microphysics RGB images (below) displayed lake-effect clouds originating from the still-unfrozen waters of Fort Peck Lake in northeastern Montana — these clouds did produce a brief period of light snowfall downstream at Glendive (KGDV). On this particular morning, the lowest temperature in the US occurred in north-central Montana, with -30ºF reported north of Rudyard.

On 12 November, cold air moving southward across the Lower Mississippi Valley produced horizontal convective roll clouds which were evident in GOES-16 Nighttime Microphysics RGB and subsequent Visible images after sunrise (below) — one of these narrow cloud bands was likely enhanced by latent heat fluxes as it passed over the comparatively-warm waters of the Mississippi River, and produced accumulating snowfall in downtown Memphis. Note that since Memphis International Airport KMEM was located just east of the cloud band, no accumulating snow was reported there (only a brief snow flurry around 1430 UTC).

Aqua MODIS Sea Surface Temperature values along parts of the Mississippi River were as warm as the mid-40s F (below).

@memphisweather1 @NWSMemphis Snow showers downtown! Sticking to roads that are ice-less! Unusual sight downtown. #memsnow pic.twitter.com/2t9FVFlRNl

— Andrew (@AndrewAvery_2) November 12, 2019

On 13 November, as the cold air was moving off the US East Coast, GOES-16 Infrared images (below) revealed bay-effect cloud plumes which developed over Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay — the Chesapeake Bay plume produced brief periods of light snow at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach KNTU from 06-10 UTC (and possibly contributed to snowfall farther south at Elizabeth City, North Carolina KECG).

Terra MODIS Sea Surface Temperature values in Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay were in the lower to middle 50s F where the bay-effect cloud plumes were originating (below).

View only this post Read Less