The 10.7 micrometer infrared window channel on GOES-13 and GOES-15 helps monitor the state of the atmosphere and surface. The animations below, from GOES-13 (top) and GOES-15 (bottom), similar to the GOES Water Vapor Animations, show active tropical convection over the Pacific, relatively fewer tropical systems over the Atlantic, an active winter season storm pattern up the US East Coast at the start of the animation, and an active pattern along the US West Coast at the end.

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The evolution of the Blizzard of 02-04 January 1999 — which impacted large portions of the Midwest and Great Lakes regions of the US, as well as parts of eastern Canada — was captured by GOES-8 Water Vapor (6.5 µm, 8-km resolution) images (above; also available as a 61-Mbyte animated GIF). On 01 January, the water vapor image signature of a shortwave trough over New Mexico and Texas could be seen, which began to intensify and move northeastward; at the same time, the signature of another shortwave trough began moving southeastward across eastern Montana and the Dakotas. Energy from this northern shortwave appeared to phase with that of the southern shortwave late on 02 January into early on 03 January, helping the storm to further intensify.

GOES-8 Infrared (10.7 µm, 4-km resolution) images (below; also available as a 111-Mbyte animated GIF) showed that cloud-top IR brightness temperatures began to cool into the -50 to -60º C range (orange to red color enhancement) over large portions of the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions during the day on 02 January. As the bulk of the storm energy moved northeastward over Canada on 03-04 January, evidence of clouds associated with a TROugh of Warm air ALoft (TROWAL) persisted across parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Even though some patches of clouds remained in the aftermath of the blizzard on 04 January, the extent of snow cover across much of the eastern US could be seen — from northern Arkansas to Minnesota, and from the Dakotas and Nebraska to Ohio — on GOES-8 Visible (0.65 µm, 1-km resolution) images (below; also available as a 15 Mbyte animated GIF). Bands of lake effect snow were also evident over each of the Great Lakes, as very cold arctic air flowed across the ice-free waters in the wake of the storm.

In the Upper Midwest region, storm total snowfall amounts included: 28.0 inches in South Haven, Michigan; 26.8 inches in Plymouth, Indiana; 23.0 inches in Dalton, Wisconsin; and 19.6 inches a Chicago O’Hare, Illinois. Chicago recorded 18.6 inches of snow on 02 January — their largest single-day snowfall on record. In Canada, Toronto, Ontario’s Pearson International Airport was closed by the storm, where 16.0 inches of snow fell. With deep snow cover and a cold post-storm arctic air mass in place, the all-time record low temperature for the state of Illinois (-36º F) was set at Congerville on 05 January.

Additional details on the January 1999 Blizzard can be found here and here.

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Surface analysis maps over the Northeast Atlantic Ocean (above) showed the rapid intensification of an area low pressure — named Storm Frank by the UK Met Office and Met Éireann — during the 29-30 December 2015 time period. As the storm moved northward toward Iceland, the central pressure of Frank explosively deepened from 966 hPa at 06 UTC on 29 December to 928 hPa at 06 UTC on 30 December, with the tight pressure gradient producing hurricane-force winds over a large area.

EUMETSAT Meteosat-10 Visible (0.75 µm, 1-km resolution) images (below; also available as a 10-Mbyte animated GIF) depicted the well-defined center of circulation of Storm Frank during the daylight hours on 29 December, as it was intensifying south of Iceland and west of Ireland.

Meteosat-10 Infrared (10.8 µm, 3-km resolution) and Water Vapor (6.25 µm, 3-km resolution) images (below; also available as animated GIFs: 33 Mbtye Infrared and 21 Mbyte Water Vapor) showed Storm Frank as the center eventually moved over Iceland early in the day on 30 December.

As the 928 hPa low pressure moved over Iceland (below), time series plots of data from various surface stations revealed winds gusting to over 50 knots at Egilsstaðir BIEG and Akureyri BIAR; farther to the east over the British Isles, wind gusts exceeded 50 knots at Cork EICK and Stornoway EGPL, with gusts over 60 knots at Sørvágur/Vágar EKVG and Benbecula EGPL. In the North Sea off the coast of Norway, strong winds and high waves were responsible for a barge breaking free of its moorings and drifting near oil fields (media report); there was also one fatality and 2 injuries on an oil rig (media report).

The NWS Ocean Prediction Center created longer satellite image animations covering the entire life cycle of the storm (below).

 

enhanced IR, RGB life cycle animation of the recent 928 hPa Icelandic #hurricane force low https://t.co/o56WL2WNXU pic.twitter.com/ozBWJxIjPA

— NWS OPC (@NWSOPC) December 31, 2015

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Visible Imagery over the Gulf of Mexico on 28 December 2015 revealed the presence of a Rope Cloud. Rope Clouds are handy features in satellite imagery because they reveal the location of the surface cold front, and the animation above shows wind shifts from southerly to westerly as the Rope Cloud moves past. (A good Rope Cloud example also occurred in November).

Visible imagery from just after sunrise, below, show long shadows cast by individual towers along the Rope Cloud. The shadows shorten quickly as the sun rises in the sky. Infrared imagery (Link) shows the towers as well, indicated with cooler brightness temperatures.

A larger-scale view using 1-km resolution Terra MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) and Infrared (11.0 µm) images at 1702 UTC, below, showed that the rope cloud stretched for nearly 1000 miles along the leading edge of the cold front (surface analyses). One small area of convection had begun to develop along the cold front at that time, which exhibited a cloud-top IR brightness temperature of -31º C (dark blue color enhancement).

Surges of cold air into the southern Gulf of Mexico will frequently spill through a gap in topography (the Chivela Pass between the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas) in southern Mexico, emerging as a region of strong winds in the Gulf of Tehuantapec. ASCAT Scatterometer winds from METOP-A, below, show a concentrated region of 30-knot winds just off the coast of southern Mexico.

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