As noted in this post from October, horizontal fields of thermodynamic variables that have been derived from NUCAPS vertical profiles are now available in AWIPS. The fields give a swath of observations derived from infrared and microwave sounders in regions of the troposphere where observations by Radiosondes happen only occasionally. In this case, NUCAPS observed the strong cold front moving southward into the north Atlantic. Temperatures over eastern Canada at 850 hPa were in the teens below 0 Celsius, and in the teens (Celsius) out over the Atlantic.

Lower-tropospheric temperatures are an important variable to know when early-season cold airmasses are cold enough that the temperature difference between 850 hPa and surface water bodies — such as rivers and lakes — is sufficient to support Lake (or River) Effect clouds and precipitation. River-effect flurries hit mid-town Memphis on the 12th of November, and the 0.86 “Veggie” image (0.86 µm, this wavelength was chosen because land/water contrasts are large in it) image, below, shows a band extending from the Mississippi River in northwest Tennessee southward into central Memphis. NUCAPS data at 850 on this day showed 850-mb temperatures around -10 C at 0900 UTC.

View only this post Read Less

EUMETSAT Meteosat-11 Visible (0.8 µm) images (above) showed the circulation and eye-like feature of Medicane “Trudy” (named “DETLEF” by Free University Berlin) as it moved southeastward across the Mediterranean Sea toward the coast of Algeria on 11 November 2019.

VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP (as visualized using RealEarth) are shown below.

At 0630 UTC, a northerly wind gust of 52 knots was recorded at Menorca, Spain (LEMH) as the medicane passed near the Balearic Islands — and several hours later as the system moved inland just after sunset, a northwesterly wind gust of 43 knots occurred at Jijel, Algeria (DAAV) at 18 UTC (below).

View only this post Read Less

JMA Himawari-8 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and Longwave Infrared Window (10.4 µm) imagery (below) showed the evolution of smoke plumes, hot 3.9 µm fire thermal anomalies (red pixels) and cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures of isolated pyrocumulus associated with bush fires that were burning in far eastern parts of New South Wales and Queensland, Australia from 1900 UTC on 07 November to 0800 UTC on 08 November 2019. With strong northwesterly surface winds, many of the fire thermal anomalies exhibited rapid southeastward runs toward the coast. That region of Australia had just experienced severe to record 3-month rainfall deficiencies — which included the driest October on record for the southern third of the country.

Himawari-8 True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images created using McIDAS-V (below) provided another view of the dense smoke plumes from 0000-0610 UTC. Toward the end of the animation — in the upper left portion of the satellite scene — plumes of blowing dust could be seen moving eastward from farther inland.

A combination of Suomi NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and Shortwave Infrared (4.1 µm) imagery at 0328 UTC (below) revealed hot thermal signatures of the fires (yellow to red enhancement) at the source of the smoke plumes.

A toggle between a Suomi NPP VIIRS True Color RGB image and a display of Sentinel-5 TROPOMI Tropospheric Vertical Column NO2 (below) indicated high NO2 concentrations immediately downwind of these fires.

The dense smoke plumes were also evident in a sequence of 3 VIIRS True Color RGB images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP, as visualized using RealEarth (below).

Smoke reduced the surface visibility to 3 miles or less at Grafton (YGFN) from 03-05 UTC (below).

At 5.30pm, there are 96 fires burning across the state, with 57 yet to be contained. 17 fires remain at Emergency Warning, mostly across the north coast and northern NSW. If you are near a fire at Emergency Warning level, take action now to protect your life. #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/FWIQs2o0ES

— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) November 8, 2019

View only this post Read Less

GOES-17 (GOES-West) Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm), Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) and Air Mass RGB images (above) displayed the signature of dry, ozone-rich air associated with a Potential Vorticity (PV) anomaly approaching Baja California and Southern California on 05 November 2019. The “dynamic tropopause” — taken to be the pressure of the PV1.5 surface — descended to the 500 hPa level within this PV anomaly.

A GOES-17 Water Vapor image with plots of available NOAA-20 NUCAPS soundings (below) is labeled with sounding points within the core of the PV anomaly (Point 1) and within the core of the driest air (Point 2).

The NUCAPS sounding profiles for Point 1 and Point 2 are shown below. The middle/upper troposphere was quite dry at both locations.

View only this post Read Less