A 4-panel comparison of GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Low-level Water Vapor (7.3 µm), Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) and Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images (above) showed a large occluded cyclone (surface analyses) over northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba on 15 July 2018. In the cold sector of the storm, morning temperatures were confined to the 40s F — especially at Churchill, Manitoba where strong easterly winds were blowing off Hudson Bay.

A closer examination of the GOES-16 images (below) revealed the presence of waves over southwestern Manitoba on the Water Vapor imagery — these appeared to vertically-propagating waves which formed due to the interaction of strong boundary layer winds with the topography of that area (some land features rise to 2600 feet). These waves then began breaking and propagating slowly westward late in the animation.

A NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) image (below) showed numerous smoke plumes from wildfires in southeastern Manitoba and western Ontario, as well as the light cyan color of ice in central and eastern portion of Hudson Bay (ice analysis: northern | southern).

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

A comparison of Visible images from GOES-15 (GOES-West), GOES-17 and GOES-16 (GOES-East)  on 14 July 2018 is shown above — in addition to thunderstorms over the high terrain of the Sierra Nevada, the development of a pyrocumulus cloud (with a small overshooting top) can be seen over the Ferguson Fire that had been burning for nearly a day near Yosemite National Park in central California.

Images from GOES-16/17 are at 5-minute intervals, while image intervals from the older GOES-15 satellite range from 5-30 minutes. The improved spatial resolution of the GOES-16/17 0.64 µm visible imagery (0.5 km at satellite sub-point, compared to 1.0 km for GOES-15) allowed finer details of the overshooting top to be seen — and the improved image-to-image navigation of the new GOES-16/17 satellites was also apparent (note the significant navigation errors in a few of the GOES-15 images).

A photo from the ground (below) showed a large pyrocumulus cloud towering over the top of the dense smoke.

 

#FergusonFire Photo by Al Golub about an hour ago, 530 pm. pic.twitter.com/hCH593pDlw

— Dave Toussaint (@engineco16) July 15, 2018

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GOES-17 imagery shown here are preliminary and non-operational

GOES-16 and GOES-17 visible imagery shows pseudo-stereoscopic imagery of developing convection on 13 July (over Georgia, click here for animated gif) and on 14 July (over North Dakota, including a cell that caused a tornado, below (animated gif), and Mexico, at bottom (animated gif)).

To view these images in three dimensions, cross your eyes until 3 images are present, and focus on the image in the middle.

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GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) depicted the remnants of Hurricane Beryl, which was situated off the East Coast of the US on 13 July 2018. Note the presence of 2 apparent low-level circulation centers — the primary circulation became better exposed as areas of deep convection moved more quickly to the east.

Overlays of low-level (produced using Visible Band 2) and upper-level (produced using Water Vapor Band 8) Derived Motion Winds (below) highlighted the primary low-level circulation, as well as the trough aloft whose axis was located just to the west.

Contours of Deep-Layer Wind Shear from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) revealed that there was a large gradient in shear over the region at 19 UTC, with higher shear northwest of the system — this verified the subjective appearance of high shear in that particular area, where low-level and upper-level Derived Motion Winds were nearly orthogonal.

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