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

A comparison of Visible images from GOES-15 (GOES-West), GOES-17 and GOES-16 (GOES-East) (above) showed a severe thunderstorm that developed ahead of an advancing cold front (surface analyses) in central South Dakota late in the day on 26 August 2018. This storm produced hail as large as 4.0 inches in diameter (SPC storm reports), and also exhibited an above anvil cirrus plume (AACP) which is a signature often associated with severe thunderstorms.

The images are displayed in the native projection of each satellite, with no re-mapping. Note the important differences due to satellite scan strategy — the GOES-15 imager was initially performing a Full Disk scan, so imagery was only available every 30 minutes; the GOES-17 ABI was scanning at the standard “CONUS Sector” 5 minute interval; a GOES-16 ABI Mesoscale Domain Sector was providing images every 1 minute.

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NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (above; courtesy of William Straka, CIMSS) showed the eye of Hurricane Lane in the central Pacific Ocean at 1208 UTC on 22 August 2018, a few hours after it reached Category 5 intensity (SATCON). Surface mesovortices were evident within the eye, and storm-top gravity waves were seen propagating west-southwestward away from the eyewall.

 

A rare and sobering sight tonight in the Central Pacific, as Hurricane #Lane becomes only the 6th recorded Category 5 hurricane in this part of the Pacific, and the nearest to #Hawaii a Cat 5 hurricane has ever been observed. #hiwx pic.twitter.com/d8zLbVKjad

— Michael Lowry (@MichaelRLowry) August 22, 2018

GOES-15 (GOES-West) Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (below) revealed a significant amount of trochoidal motion as Lane moved northwestward during the 21 August – 22 August period. The storm weakened somewhat to Category 4 intensity as of 15 UTC on 22 August.

Hurricane Lane was near the limb of the Full Disk view of both Himawari-8 and GOES-17, as seen in a comparison of “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images from the two satellittes (below).

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

DMSP-16/17 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) images from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site are shown  below.

Since forming as Tropical Depression 14E on 14 August. Lane had been moving westward over water having only modest Ocean Heat Content but Sea Surface Temperature values of 27-28ºC (below).

===== 23 August Update =====

Hurricane Lane remained at Category 4 intensity during the early hours of 23 August — however, the satellite presentation began to deteriorate as the eye became cloud-filled as seen in toggles between VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 at 1150 UTC (above) and Suomi NPP at 1240 UTC (below). An interesting narrow “warm trench” signature became very pronounced within the northwestern quadrant of Lane on the later Suomi NPP Infrared image.

GOES-15 Visible (0.63 µm) and Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images after sunrise (above) showed that the eye of Lane moved over Buoy 51002 — located about 200 miles southwest of the Big Island of Hawai’i — just after 19 UTC (below). The peak wind gust measured by the buoy was 93 knots or 107 mph ay 1830 UTC; the lowest wind and air pressure values were recorded while in the eye from 1930-2110 UTC.

At 1703 UTC Buoy 51002 was located just west of the eye, beneath strong convection of the eyewall as seen on a DMSP-17 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image (below).

A Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image at 2334 UTC or 1:34 pm HST on 23 August is shown below.

===== 24 August Update =====

A Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image (above) showed Category 3 Hurricane Lane at 1211 UTC or 2:11 am HST on 24 August. Thin tendrils of high-altitude transverse banding can be seen along the western and northern periphery of the storm.

GOES-15 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (below) showed the development of the transverse banding as Lane eventually weakened to a Category 1 storm during the course of the day; a rapid warming of the cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures began around 2100 UTC. Even though the Ocean Heat Content and Sea Surface Temperature in the waters immediately west of Hawai’i were still fairly high, the hurricane was moving into an environment of increasingly unfavorable deep-layer wind shear which acted to decouple the low-level and mid-level circulations and hasten the weakening process.

GOES-15 Visible (0.63 µm) images (below) provided a slightly closer look at the storm during the daylight hours.

A dramatic difference was seen between Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band images at 1211 UTC and 2315 UTC (below), as Lane weakened from a Category 3 to a Category 1 hurricane in this 11-hour period.In spite of the rapid weakening, very heavy rainfall continued across much of the State, with 24-hour amounts exceeding 20 inches at some locations on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Note that the Low-Level Circulation Center (LLCC) of Lane had become exposed on the later 2315 UTC image (in spite of a thin veil of cirrus overhead), and was located to the southwest of the rapidly-dissipating convection that was closer to the islands.

===== 25 August Update =====

On the islands, the highest wind gust associated with Lane was 74 mph — and storm total rainfall amounts greater than 50 inches were recorded, with Hilo setting a record 3-day accumulation of 31.85 inches and a record 4-day accumulation of 36.76 inches. Rainfall rates on the Big Island exceeded 19 inches in 24 hours on 23 July.

Hourly images of the MIMIC Total Precipitable Water (TPW) product during the period 22-25 August (below) showed the circulation of Lane transporting high amounts of moisture across the Hawaiian Islands. TPW values of 60 mm (2.4 inches) or more were also seen in rawinsonde data from Hilo on many of these days.

A toggle between Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band images from 24 August / 2315 UTC and 25 August / 1152 UTC (below) showed a slow north/northwestward motion of the exposed LLCC of what had further weakened to Tropical Storm Lane.

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1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed multiple clusters of convection which developed across far southern Wisconsin during the late afternoon and early evening hours on 20 August 2018, producing very heavy rainfall and flash flooding (with at least one fatality) that was focused in western Dane County (CoCoRaHS | AHPS). As much as 14.33 inches of rain was reported in Cross Plains (Local Storm Reports). which set a new record for 24-hour precipitation in the state of Wisconsin (the old record was 11.72 inches at Mellen in northern Wisconsin on 24 June 1946). Animations of radar base reflectivity and storm total precipitation (courtesy of Pete Pokrandt, UW-AOS) showed that the combination of slow overall motion — and a pivoting of precipitation bands, due to weak flow aloft within a deformation zone (300 hPa analysis) —  along with cell mergers all played a role in producing the heavy rainfall. There was also an EF-0 tornado at Delavan (NWS Milwaukee summary).

The corresponding 1-minute GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) imagery (below) showed that cloud-top brightness temperatures were generally in the -50º to -60ºC range with these initial areas of convection.

A longer Infrared animation (below) with a different color enhancement (adapted for winter convection) better emphasized the colder cloud tops as convective development persisted into the subsequent overnight hours. Note the absence surface observations from Middleton KC29 after 03 UTC or 10 pm CDT — this was due to an extended power outage to that area and other parts of western Dane County.

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images (below) revealed the large circulation associated with an occluded low (surface analyses) over the lower Missouri River valley.

The GOES-16 Total Precipitable Water derived product (below) showed that values of 1.3 to 1.5 inches were being advected northward toward the area.

With widespread cloudiness prevailing across much of the Upper Midwest, the CIMSS All-Sky Total Precipitable Water (TPW) product (below) was helpful to better track the transport of moisture into the region — TPW values of 40-43 mm (1.6-1.7 inches) were seen feeding into southern Wisconsin within a TROWAL airstream around the northern edge of the occluded low pressure system (WPC discussion). The All-Sky products blend GOES ABI clear-sky retrievals with GFS background fields in cloudy regions; these products have been evaluated by the NWS Hazardous Weather Testbed (see here).

The Aqua MODIS TPW product at 1943 UTC (below) showed values of 40-45 mm (1.6-1.8 inch) on either side of the frontal boundary in northern Illinois.

One example of the hydrologic impact of this heavy rain was seen at the Pheasant Branch Creek USGS gauge (map), where nearly 11 inches of rainfall were recorded. A dramatic time-lapse video showed the rise of the normally-small creek as it inundated the adjacent multi-use path on 21 August.

Pheasant Branch Creek flows into the northwest corner of Lake Mendota, which crested at 852.3 feet on the morning of 22 August. This was the third highest lake elevation on record — and the highest level on record for so late in the calendar year. Portions of the University of Wisconsin – Madison campus adjacent to the lake experienced some impacts due to the high water, as shown on the map below. There were also several road closures in Madison due to high water.

Farther downstream on the Yahara River chain of lakes, Lake Waubesa reached its 100-year flood level on 22 August.

100-YEAR #FLOOD LEVEL REACHED!
Lake #Waubesa reached a level of 847.01′ late this afternoon. This surpasses the 100-year level of 847.00 feet. Waubesa’s record level was set on June 17, 2008 at 847.22 feet. Other area lakes are also close to 100-year levels. #MadisonWI #yahara pic.twitter.com/FfroP567nh

— Clean Lakes Alliance (@cleanlakes) August 22, 2018

 

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Typhoon Soulik, south of Japan and moving westward, has acquired a very large eye — almost 100 miles across! Himawari-8 imagery, above (courtesy JMA), shows the evolution and enlargement of the eye between 0900 and 1400 UTC on 20 August 2018.

GCOM, Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 all passed over Soulik between 1600 and 1715 UTC on 18 August. The Infrared Toggle, below, from NOAA-20 (1608 UTC) and Suomi NPP (1658 UTC) also shows a large eye.

Day Night Band Imagery from Suomi NPP, below, also shows a large eye. There was little lunar illumination occurring at the time because the moon was below the horizon.

GCOM overflew Soulik at 1702 UTC, and the AMSR-2 instrument on board gave estimates of rain rate, both convective and a the surface. Those are toggled below.

(Suomi NPP, NOAA-20 and GCOM imagery courtesy William Straka, CIMSS)

Soulik’s eye was wide enough that a NUCAPS soundings retrieval (Click here for more information on NUCAPS soundings) could be made from data collected during a Suomi-NPP overpass at 0350 UTC on 21 August 2018.  Note the green sounding location within Soulik’s eye — Green dots denote regions where the infrared retrieval was successful.  The sounding at that point is shown below. (NUCAPS imagery courtesy Landon Aydlett, WFO Guam).

You can use NUCAPS Soundings to diagnose the difference between the environment in the storm eye, and in the surrounding environment. The animation below shows locations of 5 soundings, one in the Eye, and one north, east, south and west of the CDO.  The five selected soundings are shown at the bottom, with insets showing which sounding is which.  The sounding in the eye shows remarkable warmth, as expected:  at 555 hPa, for example, eye temperatures are around 8º C;  values at the 4 outside points range from 0.4º to 2.9º C.  Sounding parameters as viewed in AWIPS can be seen here.

Soulik’s path is projected to remain south of Japan and approach the Korean Peninsula by mid-week. For more information on Soulik, consult the CIMSS/SSEC Tropical Weather Website, or the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

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