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Hurricane Hone south of Hawai’i in the Day Night Band

VIIRS Day Night Band imagery from the Direct Broadcast site in Honolulu, above, shows Hurricane Hone as it passes south of South Point on the Big Island of Hawai’i on 25 August 2024. NOAA-21, Suomoi-NPP and NOAA-20 viewed the storm at 1130, 1154 and 1218 UTC, respectively. Data were processed at the antenna with... Read More

VIIRS Day Night Band Visible (0.7 µm) imagery from NOAA-21 (1130 UTC), Suomi-NPP (1154 UTC) and NOAA-20 (1218 UTC) on 25 August 2024 (Click to enlarge)

VIIRS Day Night Band imagery from the Direct Broadcast site in Honolulu, above, shows Hurricane Hone as it passes south of South Point on the Big Island of Hawai’i on 25 August 2024. NOAA-21, Suomoi-NPP and NOAA-20 viewed the storm at 1130, 1154 and 1218 UTC, respectively. Data were processed at the antenna with CSPP Software.

More information on Hone is available at the Central Pacific Hurricane Center and from the National Weather Service forecast office in Honolulu.

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Tropical Storm Hone

Hourly imagery from the CSPP Geosphere website (link), above, shows the progress and evolution of Tropical Storm Hone (upgraded from a tropical depression at 2100 UTC on 22 August) over the central Pacific Ocean. There is a decrease in the amount of cold cloud tops associated with the storm over the course of the... Read More

GOES-18 clean window (Band 13, 10.3 µm) infrared imagery, hourly from 0120 UTC 22 August – 1320 23 August 2024

Hourly imagery from the CSPP Geosphere website (link), above, shows the progress and evolution of Tropical Storm Hone (upgraded from a tropical depression at 2100 UTC on 22 August) over the central Pacific Ocean. There is a decrease in the amount of cold cloud tops associated with the storm over the course of the animation. However, convection continues to develop near the eye as the storm moves along its path.

Scatterometery winds, shown below, from timely overpasses of Metop B and EOS-6, depict the tropical storm-force winds with the system.

Advanced Scatterometry (ASCAT) winds from Metop-B, 0611 UTC on 23 August 2024 (Click to enlarge)
OSCAT3 winds from EOS-6, 0855 UTC on 23 August 2024 (Click to enlarge)

Current forecasts from the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (link) suggest Hone will likely remain south of the Hawai’ian island chains. However, increasing amounts of moisture associated with Hone, depicted below by MIMIC TPW fields (that shows Hone near 145o W, Gilma near 130o W and a developing tropical wave near 115o W), means chances of excessive rainfall and flash floods will increase over the weekend.

Hourly estimates of Total Precipitable Water, 1400 UTC 22 August – 1300 UTC 23 August 2024 (Click to enlarge)

Interests in Hawai’i should monitor closely the progress of this storm, both at the Central Pacific Hurricane Center, and at the National Weather Service forecast office in Honolulu.

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Gilma and Invest 91E (update: Tropical Depression 1C) over the eastern Pacific

GOES-18 Visible imagery, above, from the CSPP Geosphere site, shows Gilma and Tropical Invest #91E (the invest became a tropical depression at 1500 UTC on 22 August; see below) at around 17oN latitude on 21 August 2024 in the tropical eastern Pacific. The animation below shows the same scene on 20 August, and the organizational improvement in the invest... Read More

GOES-18 Visible (Band 2, 0.64 µm) Imagery, 1600-2130 UTC on 21 August 2024

GOES-18 Visible imagery, above, from the CSPP Geosphere site, shows Gilma and Tropical Invest #91E (the invest became a tropical depression at 1500 UTC on 22 August; see below) at around 17oN latitude on 21 August 2024 in the tropical eastern Pacific. The animation below shows the same scene on 20 August, and the organizational improvement in the invest is apparent. On the 20th, the low level circulations were separate from the convection. On the 21st, above, the low-level circulations are underneath the convection. Slow organization has occurred.

GOES-18 Visible (Band 2, 0.64 µm) Imagery, 1600-2130 UTC on 20 August 2024

By sunrise on the 22nd, below (link), Gilma is a hurricane, with an invest to its east; Invest 91E has moved west of 140oE, become the responsibility of the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu, and organized enough to become a tropical depression.

GOES-18 Visible (Band 2, 0.64 µm) imagery, 1600 UTC on 22 August 2024 (Click to enlarge)

The invest was sampled from the direct broadcast site at Honolulu (data here). The toggle below compares Suomi-NPP I05 VIIRS imagery (11.45 µm) and the Suomi-NPP ATMS Rain Rate shortly after 1100 UTC on 22 August. The system is in a region of warm SSTs and low shear. Interests in Hawaii should continue to monitor its evolution.

Suomi-NPP I05 infrared imagery (11.45 µm) and ATMS-derived rain rate, 1111 UTC on 22 August 2024 (Click to enlarge)

For more information on this system, refer to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service office in Honolulu. CPHC has started issuing advisories on this system (tropical Depression 1C) as of 1500 UTC on 22 August.

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A Moon Shot

The moon was visible in Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)‘s AHI (-9) imagery on 21 August 2024.A similar mp4 animation as above, but a quicker animation speed. Himawari-9 imaged more than just clouds over the southern Pacific Ocean when the recently full moon peeked out from behind Earth. pic.twitter.com/eXPKt4rN2I— CIRA (@CIRA_CSU) August 22, 2024 GOESWhile the GOES-R ABI... Read More

The moon was visible in Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)‘s AHI (-9) imagery on 21 August 2024.

JMA’s AHI imagery, using the CIMSS Natural Color composite, for three times on August 21, 2024.

A similar mp4 animation as above, but a quicker animation speed.

JMA’s AHI imagery, using the CIMSS Natural Color composite, for 04:20 UTC August 21, 2024.
JMA’s AHI full disk imagery, using the CIMSS Natural Color composite, for 04:20 UTC August 21, 2024.
CSU/CIRA post alerted this author of this case.

GOES

While the GOES-R ABI series also scans the moon when it is near the Earth, only the remapped (to the Earth) pixels are distributed as part of the rebroadcast data. Special processing from Level 0 data is needed to see the off Earth edge pixels with ABI. GOES-1 through GOES-15 imagers did allow to sometimes see the moon off the Earth. Examples from GOES-8, GOES-12, and GOES-13.

H/T

Thanks to JMA for the AHI data (via NESDIS/STAR) and the UW/SSEC Data Services. McIDAS-X was used for these image combinations. T. Schmit works for NOAA/NESDIS/STAR and is stationed in Madison, WI.

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