CIMSS Satellite Blog, CIMSS

Supercell thunderstorm producing large hail in the Naples, Italy area

By Scott Bachmeier • 5 September 2015

EUMETSAT Meteosat-10 Infrared (10.8 µm) images (above; click image to play animation) showed an isolated supercell thunderstorm which quickly developed over the eastern Mediterranean Sea and moved eastward across central Italy on 05 September 2015. This storm produced large in the Naples area (station identifier LIRN); hail was as large... Read More

Meteosat-10 Infrared (10.8 µm) images [click to play animation]

EUMETSAT Meteosat-10 Infrared (10.8 µm) images (above; click image to play animation) showed an isolated supercell thunderstorm which quickly developed over the eastern Mediterranean Sea and moved eastward across central Italy on 05 September 2015. This storm produced large in the Naples area (station identifier LIRN); hail was as large as 10 cm (3.94 inches) in diameter in the city of Pozzouli, which was just south of the vertex of the well-defined “enhanced-V” storm-top signature as seen in IR images from the SSEC RealEarth web map server site (below; click images to play animation). The coldest cloud-top IR brightness temperature was -73.5º C at 0900 UTC.

Meteosat-10 Infrared (10.8 µm) images [click to play animation]

Meteosat-10 High Resolution Visible (0.8 µm) images (below; click image to play animation) revealed the tell-tale shadows cast by overshooting tops associated with the vigorous updrafts within this large and intense thunderstorm.

Meteosat-10 Visible (0.8 µm) images [click to play animation]

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Remnant circulation of Tropical Storm Erika

By Scott Bachmeier • 3 September 2015

GOES-13 (GOES-East) Visible (0.63 µm) images (above; click to play animation) revealed the low-level circulation of the remnants of Tropical Storm Erika moving off the coast of Georgia early in the day on 03 September 2015 (15 UTC surface analysis). Although there was one brief convective burst over the low-level circulation center (LLCC), it is unclear whether... Read More

GOES-13 Visible (0.63 µm) images [click to play animation]

GOES-13 (GOES-East) Visible (0.63 µm) images (above; click to play animation) revealed the low-level circulation of the remnants of Tropical Storm Erika moving off the coast of Georgia early in the day on 03 September 2015 (15 UTC surface analysis). Although there was one brief convective burst over the low-level circulation center (LLCC), it is unclear whether this was initiated by an outflow boundary from the ongoing thunderstorm activity farther offshore or was aided by enhanced boundary layer convergence in the vicinity of the LLCC.

During the preceding nighttime hours, the remnant LLCC could be seen on a Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band image at 0631 UTC or 2:31 AM local time (below), still inland over southeastern Georgia.

Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared (11.45 µm) images [click to enlarge]

The LLCC was also seen on the morning Terra MODIS Visible (0.64 µm) image (below); the coldest MODIS Infrared (11.0 µm) cloud-top IR brightness temperatures associated with the deep convection east of the LLCC were -82º C (violet color enhancement).

Terra MODIS Visible (0.64 µm) and Infrared (11.0 µm) images [click to enlarge]

The 10-day motion of the vorticity field associated with Tropical Storm Erika (and its remnants) can be followed using the atmospheric motion vector (AMV) 850 hPa Relative Vorticity product from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below; click to play animation).

Atmospheric motion vector 850 hPa Relative Vorticity product [click to play animation]

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Hourly GOES Animations from August 2015

By Scott Lindstrom • 1 September 2015

The YouTube video embedded above shows GOES-13 Water Vapor (6.5 µm) images each hour for all of August 2015. The 10.7 µm Infrared window channel animation is shown below. Both show a remarkable lack of thunderstorm activity in the Caribbean Sea. In addition, hourly Water Vapor (6.5 µm) and... Read More

In addition, hourly Water Vapor (6.5 µm) and Infrared window channel (10.7 µm) imagery from GOES-15 is shown below.

The GOES-15 imagery includes the northern fringe of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, and the active Eastern Pacific hurricane season is apparent, including several storms that have threatened the state of Hawai’i. The atypically strong August storm that hit the Pacific Northwest is also seen at the end of the animations.

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Hurricane Fred

By Scott Bachmeier • 31 August 2015

Tropical Storm Fred reached hurricane intensity east of the Cape Verde Islands late in the day on 30 August 2015. As mentioned in the NHC discussion on the following morning, Fred was the first hurricane to pass through the Cape Verde Islands since 1892. While no central eye was apparent on... Read More

GOES-13 Visible (0.63 um) and Infrared (10.7 um) images [click to enlarge]

Tropical Storm Fred reached hurricane intensity east of the Cape Verde Islands late in the day on 30 August 2015. As mentioned in the NHC discussion on the following morning, Fred was the first hurricane to pass through the Cape Verde Islands since 1892. While no central eye was apparent on GOES-13 (GOES-East) Visible (0.63 um) and Infrared (10.7 um) images at 0845 UTC (above), a DMSP SSMIS 85 GHz microwave image sourced from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site did reveal a small eye at 0904 UTC (below).