Morning #GOESEast 1 minute mesoscale sector over #CNY showing a glimpse of the #valleyfog in the upper Susquehanna & Delaware river basins co-located with the #snow in the higher elevations of the #Catskills. Both will be gone later today. pic.twitter.com/IDuVlQANvg

— NWS Binghamton (@NWSBinghamton) May 1, 2018

As pointed out by NWS Binghamton, valley fog and higher-elevation snow cover was apparent on GOES-16 (GOES-East) Visible imagery in the Catskills of southeastern New York on the morning of 01 May 2018. A closer view comparing GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm) images (below) showed the dissipation of the valley fog, followed by the melting of the snow cover in higher terrain (snowfall amounts of up to 3-4 inches fell in the area on 29 April). The Snow/Ice imagery was helpful in discriminating between the brighter valley fog features and the darker snow cover.

A 250-meter resolution Terra MODIS True-color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) image acquired from the SSEC Direct Broadcast ground station (below) showed the remaining snow cover over the Catskills (near the center of the image) at 1539 UTC.

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The combination of strong winds and low relative humidity prompted the SPC to forecast elevated to critical fire weather potential across parts of the Upper Midwest on 29 April 2018. A Mesoscale Domain Sector was positioned over the region, providing data at 1-minute intervals — and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (above) revealed the smoke plumes and thermal anomalies or “hot spots” (black to yellow to red pixels) associated with some of these larger fires. The most prominent fires were located in southeastern Manitoba later in the day (including the largest fire EA015, which was listed as Out of Control).

On the Visible images, also note the hazy signature of blowing dust that developed from the northern Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota into southern Manitoba — with winds gusting in excess of 50 knots, the surface visibility dropped to 3 miles at Grafton ND (KGAF) and Winnipeg International Airport (located just northwest of station CXWN in southern Manitoba).

Dust storm pix taken this afternoon (Julie Helm) near Drayton ND. Wind Advisory continues thru 8pm. #ndwx #mnwx pic.twitter.com/IyksXL8dof

— NWS Grand Forks (@NWSGrandForks) April 29, 2018

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Explosions at an oil refinery in Superior WI on 26 April 2018 (news link) produced a black plume of smoke visible in the GOES-16 “Red Visible” Band, the highest resolution (0.5 km at nadir) band on GOES-16. The plume is first visible at about 1717 UTC, and it then streams southeastward over northwest Wisconsin. Areas immediately downwind of the refinery were evacuated due to air quality concerns.

The explosion and subsequent fire was not sufficiently hot to be detected by the shortwave infrared 3.9 µm channel on GOES-16. However, the smoke plume is obvious in this animation, cooler than the background by 3-4ºC, and yellow in the enhancement chosen.

The dark smoke plume was also evident on Near-Infrared “Vegetation” (0.86 µm) images (above), aided by the additional contrast between the dark plume and the lighter gray appearance of the land surface.

The GOES-16 Natural Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) product (above) was also useful for identifying and tracking the smoke plume.

250-meter resolution Aqua MODIS True Color and False Color images from the MODIS Today site (above) provided a detailed view of the smoke plume at 1842 UTC. In the False Color image, snow cover and lake ice appear as shades of cyan.

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Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) produced from the Advanced Clear-Sky Processor for Oceans (ACSPO) are now being created in real time at the National Weather Service Forecast Office on Guam (where the National Weather Service day begins). The algorithm is applied to data broadcast from polar orbiter satellites and received at the Direct Broadcast antenna sited at the forecast office.  (Link to CSPP ACSPO Algorithm) Because there are so many polar orbiters broadcasting data — NOAA-18, NOAA-19, Metop-A, Metop-B, Suomi-NPP, Terra, Aqua — cloudy pixels on one pass are typically filled in with data from a subsequent pass.  When ACSPO software for NOAA-20 is available, data from that satellite will be incorporated as well.  The result is a very highly calibrated, accurate depiction of high spatial resolution tropical Pacific SSTs.  A composite created every 12 hours from the imagery is also available at the forecast office.

 

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