There were numerous pilot reports of Moderate to Severe turbulence (symbols) over much of the Midwest on 11 March 2016, as shown plotted on 4-km resolution GOES-13 (GOES-East) Water Vapor (6.5 µm) images (above). A packet of transverse banding cloud features developed over eastern Kansas after about 1515 UTC, and moved northeastward over northwestern Missouri/southeastern Nebraska/Iowa/northern Illinois/southern Wisconsin during the day.

The transverse banding cloud filaments showed up with a bit more clarity on a 1-km resolution Aqua MODIS Water Vapor (6.7 µm) image at 1919 UTC (below).

A MODIS Cirrus (1.4 µm) image at 1738 UTC (below) was also a very effective tool for helping to visualize the transverse banding cloud filaments. A Turbulence SIGMET had been issued at 1433 UTC for much of the region, due to wind shear associated with jet steam aloft. Many of the pilot reports were noted to be Clear Air Turbulence (CAT), with one describing the severe turbulence encounter as “one jolt“. It can be seen from the GFS model isotachs of Maximum Wind that the reports of turbulence occurred within the entrance region of a curved jet stream segment, which are areas that favor the development of strong vertical and horizontal wind shear responsible for turbulence.

On a comparison of 1-km resolution Aqua MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) and Infrared Window (11.0 µm) images at 1919 UTC (below), the very thin nature of the transverse banding cirrus cloud features made them difficult to identify on the Visible image; they also exhibited very warm Infrared brightness temperature values (around -15º C) due to the fact that the satellite was also sensing a good deal of warm thermal radiation from the ground surface below the thin cirrus. As seen in the previous example above, the transverse banding high cloud filaments showed up very well on the MODIS 1.38 µm Cirrus image. Imagery from this 1.38 µm spectral band will also be available from the ABI instrument on GOES-R.

Hat tip to Scott Dennstaedt for the heads-up on this event:

@CIMSS_Satellite Looks like a nasty turbulence environment today over the Midwest. Lots of urgent PIREPs & SIGMET pic.twitter.com/pc8PU5xsXf

— Scott Dennstaedt (@AvWxWorkshops) March 11, 2016

 

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The shadow of the total solar eclipse of 09 March 2016 was captured by a number of geostationary satellites, including JMA Himawari-8 (above; also available as either a large 140 Mbyte animated GIF, or a YouTube video: large) | small) and KMA COMS-1 (below). The Himawari-8 true-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images were created using the Simple Hybrid Contrast Stretch (SHCS) method by Yasuhiko Sumida, SSEC visiting scientist from JMA.

Toward the end of the eclipse, the shadow was also seen with NOAA GOES-15 (below) as it moved northwest and north of Hawai’i.

In addition, the eclipse shadow was captured with the Chinese satellites FY-2E and FY-2G (below).

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An area of low pressure rapidly intensified off the US East Coast during the 04 March – 05 March 2016 period (surface analyses). GOES-13 (GOES-East) Water Vapor (6.5 µm) images (above; also available as a large 57 Mbyte animated gif) showed classic signatures of the various stages of strong mid-latitude cyclone development — most notably the formation of a well-defined comma head and dry slot. Even though the storm was well offshore, impacts near and along the coast included snowfall amounts as high as 6.7 inches at Princess Anne, Maryland, 5.0 inches at Montross, Virginia, and 2.6 inches at Topsfield, Massachusetts; winds gusted to 55 mph at Jennettes Pier, North Carolina and 53 mph at Nantucket, Massachusetts. In Newfoundland, Gander received 17.3 inches of snow, and winds gusted to 77 mph at Cape Pine.

Aqua MODIS Water Vapor (6.7 µm), Infrared Window (11.0 µm), and Visible (0.65 µm) images at 1737 UTC (above) and Suomi NPP VIIRS Visible (0.64 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images at 1722 UTC (below) showed the storm around the time the Ocean Prediction Center indicated that it began producing hurricane force winds (18 UTC analysis).

A sequence of POES AVHRR Infrared (12.0 µm) images at 1852, 2205, and 0100 UTC along with Metop ASCAT surface scatterometer winds (below) showed the storm as it continued to intensify. Even though AWIPS labeled the ASCAT winds with a time stamp of 0228 UTC, cursor sampling found winds as strong as 57 knots south of the storm center and 59 knots north of the storm center at 0155-0156 UTC.

The Ocean Prediction Center posted an animation of Geocolor images of the storm on Twitter:

Geocolor satellite showing hurricane force low developing off SE coast over past few days & then turning NE. #GRPG pic.twitter.com/1uJmhHxfPs

— NWS OPC (@NWSOPC) March 7, 2016

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GOES-13 (GOES-East ) Visible (0.63 µm) images centered over Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and central New York state (below) showed a variety of aircraft “hole punch” and “dissipation trails” over the eastern Great Lakes on 03 March 2016.

These cloud features were caused by aircraft that were either ascending or descending through layers of cloud composed of supercooled water droplets, which covered much of the region as shown by the POES AVHRR Cloud Type product at 1545 UTC (below). Cooling from wake turbulence (reference) and/or the particles from the jet engine exhaust acting as ice condensation nuclei cause the small water droplets to turn into larger ice crystals (which then often fall from the cloud layer, creating “fall streak holes“). Similar features have been discussed in previous blog posts.

There were numerous pilot reports of light to moderate icing between FL120 and FL160 (flight level 12,000-16,000 feet) when passing through the supercooled water droplet cloud layers (below). The pilot report altitudes agree well with the POES AVHRR Cloud Top Height product values of 4-5 km over Lake Erie at 1545 UTC.

A comparison of 250-meter resolution Terra MODIS true-color and false-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images at 1649 UTC as visualized using RealEarth (below) indicated that the cloud material in the center of the aircraft dissipation trail over the north shore of Lake Erie had glaciated (snow, ice, and ice crystal clouds exhibit a darker cyan appearance on the false-color image).

A panorama photo from the ground was taken in Binghamton, New York (station identifier KBGM, located near the center of the New York GOES-13 images):

#Holepunch cloud (panorama) over Broome & Chenango County from ground & ~22,000 miles above. pic.twitter.com/s0TsCMeBxR

— HowardManges (@HowardManges) March 3, 2016

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