The mesoscale convective vortex (thunderstorm complex) from Arizona overnight is evident a small eye on visible satellite and large mass of debris clouds over #socal in addition to the morning dust layer in the Coachella Valley #cawx #Monsoon2018 pic.twitter.com/VE3QB6iKfh

— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) July 9, 2018

As mentioned by NWS San Diego, monsoon thunderstorms that developed over Arizona spawned a small Mesoscale Convective Vortex (MCV). The animation below shows nighttime GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, followed by daytime GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images — the center of the MCV circulation briefly exhibited an “eye-like” appearance just after 16 UTC (south of the California/Mexico border).

A 1-km resolution NOAA-19 Infrared Window (10.8 µm) image at 1132 UTC (below) showed a more detailed view of the small cluster of thunderstorms responsible for the MCV — the convection produced 0.68″ of rainfall near Yuma KNYZ in far southwestern Arizona, and generated an outflow boundary which produced wind gusts to 46 mph at Thermal, California KTRM (NWS statements).

A toggle between 1-km resolution NOAA-15 and NOAA-18 Visible (0.63 µm) images (below) revealed the emergence of the eye-like MCV center in far northern Baja California (just southeast of Campo, California KCZZ) at 1547 UTC.

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A toggle between Terra MODIS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images (from the MODIS Today site) on 06 June, 05 July and 09 July 2018 (above) revealed the brightening yellow-green hues of blooming canola fields across parts of northeastern North Dakota and southern Manitoba. Note that changes can even be seen between the 2 days in early July!

Credit to NWS Grand Forks for alerting us to this interesting phenomenon.

Using @NOAASatellites' #GOES16 "true color" capability, we can see vast fields of blooming #canola within northern North Dakota into the Canadian southern prairie provinces shaded in speckled hues of yellow. ? #ndwx #mbwx #ndag #mbag pic.twitter.com/pOzBgDukY3

— NWS Grand Forks (@NWSGrandForks) July 10, 2018

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Tropical Depression Number 3 was upgraded to Tropical Storm Chris at 0900 UTC 8 July. Chris has been mostly stationary on 8 July. The visible animation, above, from Sunday 8 July shows excellent upper-level outflow to the northeast and southwest of the storm, and persistent convection over the center.  The Clean Window animation over the same time, below, shows a compact center with periodic overshooting tops.

The toggle below between 2212 UTC on 6 and 8 July shows the general increase in organization of Chris, with a slight northwestward motion over the two days. In addition, the front that was over the eastern United States on 6 July is out over the Atlantic on 8 July, and Chris is embedded within the southwestern tail of the front.

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Tropical Depression Three has formed in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Cape Hatteras. The visible animation above (click the image to play an animated gif) shows strong convection with overshooting tops mostly south and west of a low-level circulation. The cold front over the eastern United States, and an upper-level Low that is moving inland over Florida, are also apparent. Because the depression is within GOES-16’s CONUS Domain, 5-minute imagery is available to monitor this system.

A variety of GOES-16 images and products can be used to discern whether this storm will develop (The National Hurricane Center suggests slow motion and slow development: Click here for details).

The low-level Water Vapor field, below (7.34 µm) from 2122 UTC, shows little dry air in the path of the storm. The Total Precipitable Water derived from GOES-16 ABI data similarly shows rich moisture surrounding the storm.

GOES-16 Estimates of Sea Surface Temperature, below, color-enhanced such that waters warmer than 27 º C are violet, shows warm surface waters. Gulf Stream temperatures, northwest of the Depression, are at 30-31 º C.

For more information on this system, please see the website of the National Hurricane Center and the CIMSS Tropical Weather Website.

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