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GOES GLM captures lightning activity near Central America

A line of dense convective clouds in the Pacific Ocean, south of Central America, produces lightning. The lightning is being picked up by the GOES Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). The storm system sits about 500 km north of the Galapagos Islands and extends eastward to the coast of Colombia.GLM, which... Read More

A line of dense convective clouds in the Pacific Ocean, south of Central America, produces lightning. The lightning is being picked up by the GOES Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). The storm system sits about 500 km north of the Galapagos Islands and extends eastward to the coast of Colombia.

24 frames of ten-minute GOES-16 data near Central America on 2024-03-11, from 1310Z to 1700Z. The animation shows three products: GLM lightning group density, the enhanced Band 13 infrared channel, and true color imagery.

GLM, which is the first ever instrument aboard a GOES satellite that specifically locates and tracks lightning, detects brightness given off by clouds that can be seen from a satellite’s perspective. GLM can detect lightning both during day and night. In the animation above, a GLM product called the group density is shown. The density of lightning is depicted by orange and yellow squares. Group density can be thought of as the number of lightning flashes per given area. As seen in the animation, lightning density is spaced out across the entire storm system, including areas of high convection and overshooting tops, which can be identified by the false color Band 13 infrared channel.

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MetopC NUCAPS profiles are now in AWIPS

MetopC IASI and MHS/AMSU data are used to create NUCAPS profiles and that thermodynamic profiles are now flowing into AWIPS, as shown in the screen capture above that shows a NOAA-20 swath extending from Greenland to Alaska at about the same time as a MetopC swath that extends from the... Read More

NUCAPS Sounding Availability points, ca. 1245 UTC on 11 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)

MetopC IASI and MHS/AMSU data are used to create NUCAPS profiles and that thermodynamic profiles are now flowing into AWIPS, as shown in the screen capture above that shows a NOAA-20 swath extending from Greenland to Alaska at about the same time as a MetopC swath that extends from the Atlantic to Greenland. The NOAA-20 and MetopC orbits are shown below (from this site). The NOAA-20 orbit stretches from Scotland (at 1255 UTC) to the Aleutians (1315 UTC); The MetopC orbit is from the Arctic Ocean north of Scandanavia (about 1245 UTC) to the western Atlantic (around 1255 UTC).

NOAA-20 Orbits (left) and MetopC Orbits (right) at 11 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)

A power of NUCAPS from multiple satellites at higher latitudes is shown below. Over western Greenland, NOAA-20 and MetopC have sampled the same atmosphere at nearly the same time. What do those two points circled in blue show (the southernmost one is from NOAA-20, the northernmost from MetopC). That is shown below.

Overlapping nature of NOAA-20 NUCAPS and MetopC NUCAPS over western Greenland (Click to enlarge)
MetopC NUCAPS Profile (1244 UTC) and NOAA-20 NUCAPS Profile (1301 UTC) on 11 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)

At lower latitudes (over CONUS for example), the power of a second satellite means that earlier observations occur. MetopC orbits (here) and NOAA-20 orbits (here) over CONUS on 11 March show an east-coast pass at 1440 UTC (MetopC) and then one at 1755 UTC (NOAA-20); a central US pass at 1620 UTC (MetopC) and then one at 1935 UTC (NOAA-20); and a west coast pass at 1800 UTC (MetopC) and then one at 2120 UTC (NOAA-20). Thus, the temporal change of the atmosphere is more easily monitored.


Sounding availability at 1552 UTC is shown below. NUCAPS profiles over central North America are from MetopC. NUCAPS profiles over Atlantic Canada are from NOAA-20.

NUCAPS Sounding Availability, 1552 UTC on 11 March 2024, including MetopC points (central parts of North American) and NOAA-20 points (Atlantic Canada) (click to enlarge)

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Baroclinic leaf feature over the Hawai’ian Islands

CSPP Geosphere imagery (Night Microphysics RGB), above, shows baroclinic leaf over the Hawaiian islands that is suggestive of the early stages of a developing mid-latitude cyclone. Air Mass RGB over roughly the same time, below (source), is also suggestive of a developing cyclone. The orange values in the RGB to the west... Read More

Night MIcrophysics RGB, 0910-1140 UTC on 11 March 2024

CSPP Geosphere imagery (Night Microphysics RGB), above, shows baroclinic leaf over the Hawaiian islands that is suggestive of the early stages of a developing mid-latitude cyclone. Air Mass RGB over roughly the same time, below (source), is also suggestive of a developing cyclone. The orange values in the RGB to the west and south of Hawai’i can denote air that is rich in Potential Vorticity,

GOES-West airmass RGB imagery 0820 – 1640 UTC on 11 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)
Cyclonic PV Units on the 355K Isentropic surface, 1200 UTC on 11 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)

Imagery from the handy TropicalTidbits website, above and below at 1200 UTC on 11 March 2024, show signatures consistent with air rich in Potential Vorticity to the west of the Hawai’ian Islands.

Pressure on the 2 PVU surface, 1200 UTC on 11 March 2024 (Click to enlarge)

How much precipitation is associated with this extensive cirrus shield? Direct Broadcast data from this site includes VIIRS imagery and MIRS RainRates, and the microwave data can show you the TPW distribution, and the Rain Rates. NOAA-20 overflew the region at 1137 UTC on 11 March. Rain was primarily over and south of the islands, where the moisture-rich atmosphere was. Microwave data gives important information about rain in regions where cirrus clouds might prevent an accurate determination of rains. Suomi-NPP overflew the region at 1227 UTC (imagery shown at bottom) and gives similar information.

NOAA-20 I05 (11.45) imagery as well as ATMS estimates of Total Precipitable Water and Rain Rates, 1137 UTC on 11 March 2024 (click to enlarge)
Suomi-NPP I05 (11.45) imagery as well as ATMS estimates of Total Precipitable Water and Rain Rates, 1227 UTC on 11 March 2024 (click to enlarge)

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Snow squalls (with some lightning) in Pennsylvania

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Day Cloud Type RGB images (above) displayed narrow bands of mixed phase to glaciated (brighter shades of green to yellow) clouds that produced snow squalls as they moved eastward across western and central Pennsylvania in the wake of a cold frontal passage on 10 March 2024. Periodic lightning activity — denoted... Read More

1-minute GOES-16 Day Cloud Type RGB images, with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density [click to play animated GIF| MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Day Cloud Type RGB images (above) displayed narrow bands of mixed phase to glaciated (brighter shades of green to yellow) clouds that produced snow squalls as they moved eastward across western and central Pennsylvania in the wake of a cold frontal passage on 10 March 2024. Periodic lightning activity — denoted by blue GLM Flash Extent Density pixels — was seen with some of these snow squall bands. These snow squalls briefly reduced the surface visibility to 1/4 mile at some sites.

The GOES-16 Day Cloud Type RGB image at 1519 UTC — with/without an overlay of GLM FlashExtent Density — included cursor displays of the corresponding Cloud Top Phase, Cloud Top Temperature and Cloud Top Height derived products near the center of one of the cloud bands (below).

GOES-16 Day Cloud Type RGB image at 1519 UTC — with/without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density — with cursor displays of the corresponding Cloud Top Phase (red), Cloud Top Temperature (blue) and Cloud Top Height (green) derived products [click to enlarge]

The Pittsburgh and State College NWS forecast offices issued numerous Snow Squall Warnings for these features.

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