RCM1 overflew Hurricane Adrian (the 2nd latest-forming first tropical system of the eastern Pacific since the start of the satellite record) at 1300 UTC on 29 June 2023, as shown above. SAR winds derived from satellite data show a closed ring of 35- to 40-knot winds surrounding the eye. Adrian’s center at 15.9^oN, 110^oW in the 1300 UTC SAR image above is in the southwest corner of the GOES-16 CONUS sector, allowing for routine 5-minute scanning of the center. The animation below, from 1006 to 1641 UTC on 29 June, shows vigorous convection developing along the southern part of the eyewall. There’s even lightning detected at 1306 UTC. A distinct eye is not apparent in the GOES imagery. Given the distance between the storm and the GOES-16 sub-satellite point, viewers should be aware of the parallax shift in this image.

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Adrian’s forecast takes the storm over progressively colder waters as shown below (imagery from the CIMSS Tropical Website). The storm is forecast to weaken as that happens.

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GOES-18 (GOES-West) Day Land Cloud Fire RGB, Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images along with the Fire Power derived product (a component of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm FDCA) (above) showed a wildfire southeast of Dease Lake (CWDL) in northern British Columbia that produced a pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud late in the day on 28 June 2023.

The thermal signature of the wildfire exhibited 3.9 µm brightness temperatures as hot as 126.3ºC and Fire Power values as high as 2510 MW (both occurring at 2050 UTC). The pyroCB cloud exhibited cloud-top 10.3 µm infrared brightness temperatures as cold as -56.13ºC.

In GOES-18 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below), shades of tan to light brown helped to identify the smoke-laden anvil of the pyroCb as it drifted northward.

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Given all the smoke over United States, one might ask: “Just how much acreage has burned over Canada?” NOAA-21 VIIRS False-color imagery from 28 June, toggled above with True-color imagery, reveal very large burn scars over Quebec to the east of James Bay. In the False-color imagery, the burnscars have a brownish hue such as the oval feature just west of Laforge-un at the eastern edge of the image. That scar also shows active burning along its southwestern edge, and its smoke plume extends southwestward to the burnscar that is southeast of Sakami. It is very difficult to discern the burn scars in the True-color imagery. The smoke plumes themselves are more apparent in True-color vs False-color.

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VIIRS ‘False Color’ imagery uses bands M11, I2 and I1 for the red/green/blue components of the RGB. (link) ‘True Color’ imagery uses M5/M4/M3 and the I1 band can be used to sharpen the imagery.

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The slider above (imagery courtesy Tim Wagner, CIMSS, derived from the rooftop cameras on the AOSS Building in Madison WI) compares the relatively clean air of 27 May with the very poor air of 27 June. Smoke from forest fires, mostly in Canada, has overspread the upper midwest. The motion of that smoke on 27 June is plain to see in the animation of true color imagery, below, from the CSPP Geosphere site. Smoke is especially thick over northeastern WI, and the smoke as a whole is moving southward.

There are also roof-top cameras pointing north. That comparison of 27 May and 27 June images is shown below.

Thanks for the imagery Tim!!

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In a sequence of GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) derived product images (above), the hazy appearance of the wildfire smoke was very pronounced in the otherwise cloud-free sky across eastern/southern Wisconsin, southern Lake Michigan, eastern Iowa and northern Illinois — and AOD values of 1.0 and higher (darker red) covered much of the region. In fact, AOD values near Milwaukee (KMKE) were close to 4.0 (below). Surface visibility at Kenosha (located in far southeastern Wisconsin) was as low as 3/4 mile. 

Ground-based lidar in Madison, Wisconsin revealed significant backscatter (due to the dense smoke) from the surface to an altitude of 2-3 km during much of the daytime hours (below). AOD values in the vicinity of Madison were generally in the 1.5-1.8 range during much of the day — and the surface visibility at Madison’s airport was as low as 1-1/4 miles at 19 UTC.

A Pilot Report 15 miles west of Madison MSN at 1300 UTC (below) indicated that the top of the smoke layer was at 10,000 feet (3.0 km).

HYSPLIT model 72-hour back trajectories (below) indicated that the source region for much of the smoke within the boundary layer at Madison WI, Milwaukee WI and Chicago IL — particularly at altitudes of 500 m and 1 km — was Quebec, where wildfire activity had been high since early June. 

Chicago had the worst air quality in the world Tuesday as wildfire smoke from Quebec, Canada, seeps into the Midwest. https://t.co/fYkAOuvtkB

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) June 27, 2023

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