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Cold/dry arctic air mass over South Dakota (with some lake effect snow)

By Scott Bachmeier •

Thermal signatures of the still-unfrozen water of Lake Oahe reservoir (along the Missouri River, in central South Dakota) were evident in GOES-16 (GOES-East) Infrared, Low-level Water Vapor and Mid-level Water Vapor images on 19th January 2025 (above). As a result of cold arctic air (morning low temperatures across western/central SD were generally in... Read More

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm, top). Low-level Water Vapor (7.3 µm, middle) and Clean Window Infrared (10.3 µm, bottom) images from 0001-1801 UTC on 19th January [click to play MP4 animation]

Thermal signatures of the still-unfrozen water of Lake Oahe reservoir (along the Missouri River, in central South Dakota) were evident in GOES-16 (GOES-East) Infrared, Low-level Water Vapor and Mid-level Water Vapor images on 19th January 2025 (above). As a result of cold arctic air (morning low temperatures across western/central SD were generally in the -10 to -20F range) flowing across the open water of Lake Oahe, there were also 2 brief periods of light lake effect snow at Pierre (KPIR), each which reduced the surface visibility to 2.5 miles (below).

Plot of surface observation data from Pierre, South Dakota from 1100-1700 UTC on 19th January [click to enlarge]

With a cold/dry arctic air mass in place over the region, the GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (Band 09) and Low-level Water Vapor (Band 10) weighting functions peaked at lower than normal altitudes (below) — with significant amounts of radiation from the surface reaching the satellite detectors (thereby enabling a signature of Lake Oahe in the Water Vapor imagery).

Plot of Weighting Functions for GOES-16 Water Vapor Bands 09 (cyan) and 10 (brown), calculated using 1200 UTC rawinsonde data from Rapid City, South Dakota on 19th January [click to enlarge]

Plot of rawinsonde data from Rapid City at 1200 UTC on 19th January [click to enlarge]

In fact, the Total Precipitable Water value derived from 1200 UTC Rapid City rawinsonde data (0.03 in) (above) was a record low value for 1200 UTC soundings on 19 January (below).

Rapid City rawinsonde climatology of Total Precipitable Water for all 1200 UTC soundings on 19th January [click to enlarge]

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Blowing snow across eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Visible images (above) revealed horizontal Convective Roll (HCR) clouds that are often associated with areas where blowing snow is occurring — such as was the case across parts of eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota on 17th January 2025. With strong N-NW winds (in the wake of an... Read More

1-minute GOES-16 Red Visible (0.64 µm) images — with/without plots of 15-minute METAR surface reports — from 1651-2200 UTC on 17th January; Interstate highways are plotted in violet [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Visible images (above) revealed horizontal Convective Roll (HCR) clouds that are often associated with areas where blowing snow is occurring — such as was the case across parts of eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota on 17th January 2025. With strong N-NW winds (in the wake of an arctic cold front) gusting as high as 67 mph in ND and 65 mph in MN, widespread blowing snow was reducing the surface visibility to near zero at some locations. Interstate 29 was closed from Grand Forks (KGFK) to the Canadian border.

1-minute GOES-16 Blowing Snow RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below) provided a clearer depiction of where the HCRs coincided with blowing snow. Existing snow cover appeared as darker shades of red in the RGB imagery, while bare ground appeared as brighter shades of green; supercooled water droplet clouds appeared as brighter shades of white, with mixed phase or glaciating clouds taking on pale shades of green.

1-minute GOES-16 Blowing Snow RGB images, from 1700-2159 UTC on 17th January [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

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Ice motion and growth in southern Lake Michigan

By Scott Bachmeier •

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (Preliminary/Non-operational) True Color RGB images — created using Geo2Grid (below) displayed ice in southwestern/southern Lake Michigan that was being driven away from the coastlines of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana by gusty NW winds on 14th January 2025.GOES-16 (GOES-East) Visible images (below) included plots of surface and buoy reports... Read More

GOES-19 (Preliminary/Non-operational) True Color RGB images, from 1511-2156 UTC on 14 January [click to play MP4 animation]

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (Preliminary/Non-operational) True Color RGB images — created using Geo2Grid (below) displayed ice in southwestern/southern Lake Michigan that was being driven away from the coastlines of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana by gusty NW winds on 14th January 2025.

GOES-16 (GOES-East) Visible images (below) included plots of surface and buoy reports — which showed wind gusts in the 25-30 knot range at several sites near the Lake Michigan coast.

GOES-16 Visible images with plots of 15-minute METAR surface reports (yellow) and hourly Buoy reports (cyan) [click to play MP4 animation]

Analysis of Southern Lake Michigan water temperature (derived from NOAA-20 VIIRS data) at 1810 UTC on 14th January; lake ice appears white [click to enlarge]

The presence of lake ice off the southwestern/southern coast of Lake Michigan was confirmed by a Water Temperature analysis (above) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data (below). Lake ice in SAR imagery exhibits high backscatter values, represented by the yellow to red colors normally associated with higher wind speeds.

RCM-3 Synthetic Aperture Radar image at 1200 UTC on 14th January [click to enlarge]

A longer sequence of GOES-19 True Color RGB images during the daytime hours on 13/14/15 January (below) revealed a gradual growth in nearshore ice across southwestern/southern Lake Michigan during that 3-day period, as cold air remained in place across that area.

GOES-19 (Preliminary/Non-operational) True Color RGB images during the daytime hours on 13/14/15 January [click to play MP4 animation]

A Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB image at 1635 UTC on 16th January (below) showed a high-resolution view of Lake Michigan ice (pale shades of cyan) off the coast near Chicago.

Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB image at 1635 UTC on 16th January [click to enlarge]

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Landsat-9 images of the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire burn scars in Los Angeles County, California

By Scott Bachmeier •

30-meter resolution Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB imagery at 1828 UTC on 14th January 2025 — visualized using RealEarth — showed the areal extent of burn scars from the Palisades Fire (above) and the Eaton Fire (below). The burn scars exhibited shades of tan to brown in the RGB images.Around the time of... Read More

Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB image at 1828 UTC on 14th January, with and without labels [click to enlarge]

30-meter resolution Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB imagery at 1828 UTC on 14th January 2025 — visualized using RealEarth — showed the areal extent of burn scars from the Palisades Fire (above) and the Eaton Fire (below). The burn scars exhibited shades of tan to brown in the RGB images.

Around the time of the Landsat-9 imagery, the Palisades Fire had burned 23713 acres (and was 17% contained) — while the Eaton Fire had burned 14117 acres (and was 35% contained).

Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB image at 1828 UTC on 14th January, with and without labels [click to enlarge]

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