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Leeside frontal gravity wave moves southward across the Plains

By Scott Bachmeier •

* GOES-17 images shown here are preliminary and non-operational *A strong cold front (surface analyses | max/min temperatures) moved southward across the Plains states during the 03 October – 04 October 2018 period — and GOES-17 Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images (above) revealed a distinct leeside frontal gravity wave as it propagated from southern Colorado... Read More

GOES-17 Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images, with surface frontal analyses [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-17 Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images, with surface frontal analyses [click to play MP4 animation]

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

A strong cold front (surface analyses | max/min temperatures) moved southward across the Plains states during the 03 October – 04 October 2018 period — and GOES-17 Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images (above) revealed a distinct leeside frontal gravity wave as it propagated from southern Colorado and southern Kansas at 05 UTC to southeastern New Mexico and the southern Texas Panhandle by 20 UTC. Thunderstorms formed along the stalled residual wave along the New Mexico/Texas border after 1930 UTC.

Pilot reports of high-altitude “mountain wave” turbulence (below) were seen at 1559 and 1721 UTC, along the north-to-south oriented portion of the gravity wave that had become stationary over eastern New Mexico.

GOES-17 Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images, with pilot reports of turbulence [click to enlarge]

GOES-17 Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images, with pilot reports of turbulence [click to enlarge]

A 1-km resolution Aqua MODIS Water Vapor (6.7 µm) image at 0807 UTC (below) showed detailed gravity wave structure over Oklahoma.

Aqua MODIS Water Vapor (6.7 µm) image [click to enlarge]

Aqua MODIS Water Vapor (6.7 µm) image [click to enlarge]

A 3-panel comparison of GOES-17 Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level (6.2 µm) Water Vapor images with plots of surface wind barbs (below) showed how the winds changed to northerly/northeasterly as the cold front passed.

GOES-17 Low-level (7.3 µm, left), Mid-level (6.9 µm, center) and Upper-level (6.2 µm, right) Water Vapor images, with plots of surface wind barbs [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-17 Low-level (7.3 µm, left), Mid-level (6.9 µm, center) and Upper-level (6.2 µm, right) Water Vapor images, with hourly plots of surface wind barbs [click to play MP4 animation]

Additional images of this event can be found on the Satellite Liaison Blog.

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Severe thunderstorms in Pennsylvania

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed severe thunderstorms that moved across Pennsylvania on 02 October 2018, producing large hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes (SPC storm reports). A parallax-corrected version of the animation — which shifts the location of SPC storm reports northwestward, to be more closely... Read More

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with SPC storm reports plotted in red [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed severe thunderstorms that moved across Pennsylvania on 02 October 2018, producing large hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes (SPC storm reports). A parallax-corrected version of the animation — which shifts the location of SPC storm reports northwestward, to be more closely aligned with the storm-top features (assumed to be at a mean altitude of 12 km, based on 00 UTC Pittsburgh rawinsonde data) seen on satellite imagery — is available here.

The corresponding GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (below) indicated that the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were in the -60 to -70ºC range (red to black enhancement).

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with SPC storm reports plotted in purple [click to play MP4 animation]



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Heavy rainfall in Arizona from the remnants of Rosa

By Scott Bachmeier •

Rosa became a Tropical Storm on 25 September 2018, and reached peak intensity as a Category 4 Hurricane on 28 September. As it gradually weakened and made landfall over Baja California on 02 October, its moisture moved across the US Desert Southwest causing heavy rainfall and flash flooding — parts of... Read More

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, 25 September – 02 October [click to play MP4 animation]

Rosa became a Tropical Storm on 25 September 2018, and reached peak intensity as a Category 4 Hurricane on 28 September. As it gradually weakened and made landfall over Baja California on 02 October, its moisture moved across the US Desert Southwest causing heavy rainfall and flash flooding — parts of Arizona received record-setting rainfall (NWS Phoenix | NWS Flagstaff), with precipitation rates as high as 1 inch in 30 minutes in the Phoenix area. GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images during the 8 days from 25 September to 02 October (above) showed the life cycle of Rosa.

A closer look at Rosa during that same time period is shown below. The image interval is 15 minutes, except for 5-minute imagery during a test of Mode 4 scanning strategy on 01 October (from 0000-1550 UTC).

GOES-16 "Clean" Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, 25 September - 02 October [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, 25 September – 02 October [click to play MP4 animation]

The transport of tropical moisture associated with Rosa could be followed using the MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product (below). The moisture over southwestern Arizona on 02 October was >4 standard deviations above normal for that region and time of year.

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product, 25 September - 02 October [click to play MP4 animation | MP4]

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product, 25 September – 02 October [click to play MP4 animation | MP4]

The increase in deep tropical moisture was very evident in plots of rawinsonde data from Tucson, Arizona (below) — Total Precipitable Water peaked at 43.9 mm or 1.73 inches at 12 UTC on 01 October.

Plots of rawinsonde data from Tucson, Arizona 30 September - 02 October [click to enlarge]

Plots of rawinsonde data from Tucson, Arizona 30 September – 02 October [click to enlarge]



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Hurricane Walaka

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-15 (GOES-West) Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed the formation of a well-defined eye of Hurricane Walaka during a period of rapid intensification (ADT | SATCON) from 0000-2330 UTC on 01 October 2018; Walaka was classified a Category 5 hurricane as of the 02 October 00 UTC advisory. Walaka was moving... Read More

GOES-15 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-15 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-15 (GOES-West) Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed the formation of a well-defined eye of Hurricane Walaka during a period of rapid intensification (ADT | SATCON) from 0000-2330 UTC on 01 October 2018; Walaka was classified a Category 5 hurricane as of the 02 October 00 UTC advisory. Walaka was moving over very warm water with Sea Surface Temperatures of 30ºC.

A 1536 UTC DMSP-16 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) revealed a small eye (reported to be 20 nautical miles in diameter at 21 UTC).

DMSP-16 SSMIS (85 GHz) Microwave image [click to enlarge]

DMSP-16 SSMIS (85 GHz) Microwave image [click to enlarge]

A side-by-side comparison of JMA Himawari-8 and GOES-15 Infrared Window images (below) showed Walaka from 2 different satellite perspectives — the superior spatial resolution of Himawari-8 (2 km, vs 4 km for GOES-15) was offset by the much larger viewing angle. Cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were -80ºC and colder (shades of violet) from both satellites early in the animation, but warmed somewhat into the -70 to -75ºC range by 00 UTC on 02 October.

Infrared Window images from Himawari-8 (10.3 µm, left) and GOES-15 (10.7 µm, right) [click to play animation | MP4]

Infrared Window images from Himawari-8 (10.3 µm, left) and GOES-15 (10.7 µm, right) [click to play animation | MP4]

===== 02 October Update =====

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Walaka remained classified as a Category 5 hurricane until the 15 UTC advisory on 02 October, when it was assigned Category 4 status after some weakening as a result of an overnight eyewall replacement cycle. A toggle between NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (above; courtesy of William Straka, CIMSS) showed the storm at 1240 UTC or 2:40 am local time.

GOES-15 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (below) showed the northward motion of Waleka. Given that the storm was forecast to pass very close to Johnston Atoll, the US Coast Guard was dispatched to evacuate personnel on Johnston Island.

GOES-15 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images; the white circle shows the location of Johnston Atoll [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-15 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images; the white circle shows the location of Johnston Atoll [click to play animation | MP4]

The MIMIC-TC product (below) showed the eyewall replacement cycle during the 0000-1445 UTC period.

MIMIC-TC morphed microwave product [click to play animation]

MIMIC-TC morphed microwave product [click to play animation]

Around 1830 UTC, a toggle between GOES-15 Infrared (10.7 µm) and GPM GMI Microwave (85 GHz) images (below) showed a small eye, with evidence of a larger outer eyewall suggesting that another eyewall replacement cycle was taking place.

GOES-15 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) and GPM GMI Microwave (85 GHz) images [click to enlarge]

GOES-15 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) and GPM GMI Microwave (85 GHz) images [click to enlarge]

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