{"id":11875,"date":"2012-11-22T22:26:15","date_gmt":"2012-11-22T22:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/?p=11875"},"modified":"2012-11-26T01:28:47","modified_gmt":"2012-11-26T01:28:47","slug":"fog-related-multiple-vehicle-accident-in-southeastern-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/archives\/11875","title":{"rendered":"Fog-related multiple-vehicle accident in eastern Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"GOES-R<\/a>

GOES-R IFR Probability product (click image to play animation)<\/p><\/div>\n

Dense fog was a factor in causing a multiple-vehicle accident (an estimated 140 vehicles involved; 2 fatalities; dozens of injuries requiring transport to hospitals)<\/em> along Interstate 10 between Houston and Beaumont in eastern Texas on the morning of 22 November 2012<\/strong><\/a>. The GOES-R Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) Probability product (with the algorithm applied to GOES-13 data)<\/em> showed that the likelihood of IFR conditions (visiblity less than 3 miles, and\/or cloud bases less than 1000 feet)<\/em> began to increase in coverage and magnitude over the area between Houston and Beaumont after around 08 UTC or 2 AM local time (above; click image to play animation),<\/em><\/strong> with the probability reaching the 80-90% range (darker red color enhancement)<\/em> after 11 UTC or 5 AM local time. <\/p>\n

According to media reports, the accident occurred around 14 UTC or 8 AM local time, near the “I-10” label<\/a><\/strong> on the eastbound portion of Interstate 10 that turned sharply northeastward toward Beaumont. There were no surface observations<\/a><\/strong> in the immediate vicinity of the accident, but the visibility had dropped as low as 1\/4 mile at Houston (KHOU) and 4 miles an Beaumont (KBPT) during the pre-dawn hours.<\/p>\n

The GOES-R Cloud Thickness product (again, with the algorithm applied to GOES-13 data)<\/em> showed that the fog\/low stratus feature near the accident site reached a maximum depth of around 1000 feet (cyan color enhancement)<\/em> after 12 UTC or 6 AM local time (below; click image to play animation)<\/em><\/strong>. For additional examples and information about these GOES-R Fog and Low Stratus (FLS) products, see the GOES-R Fog Product Examples<\/a><\/strong> blog or view the GOES-R FLS training material (VISITview<\/a><\/strong> | PowerPoint<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\"GOES-R<\/a>

GOES-R Cloud Thickness product (click image to play animation)<\/p><\/div>\n

The traditional or “legacy” GOES-13 IR brightness temperature difference (BTD) “fog\/stratus product” (below; click image to play animation)<\/em><\/strong> did exhibit a signal of fog and\/or stratus (yellow to red color enhancement)<\/em> increasing over that region, but part of that signal was being contaminiated by high cloud features (black enhancement)<\/em> drifting overhead. In addition, the primary weakness of the legacy BTD fog\/stratus product is that it does not provide the distinction between potentially hazardous fog on the ground and non-hazardous stratus clouds located above the surface.<\/p>\n

\"GOES-13<\/a>

GOES-13 IR brightness temperature difference “fog\/stratus product” (click image to play animation)<\/p><\/div>\n

Suomi NPP VIIRS IR BTD fog\/stratus product images at 06:56 UTC or 12:56 AM local time and again at 08:35 UTC or 2:35 AM local time (below)<\/em><\/strong> also displayed a signal indicating that a well-defined fog\/stratus feature was located over the area.<\/p>\n

\"Suomi<\/a>

Suomi NPP VIIRS IR brightness temperature difference “Fog\/stratus product”<\/p><\/div>\n

With higher spatial reolution (1 km) compared to GOES-13 (4 km), the Suomi NPP VIIRS IR BTD fog\/stratus product image at 08:35 UTC (below)<\/strong> did a better job at showing the signal of fog\/stratus in the area, even through the patches of high clouds (black enhancement)<\/em> that were drifting overhead.<\/p>\n

\"GOES-13<\/a>

GOES-13 and Suomi NPP VIIRS IR brightness temperature difference “Fog\/stratus product” images<\/p><\/div>\n

The fog began to burn off rather quickly after sunrise — however, the fog feature over the Interstate 10 accident area could still be seen on a POES AVHRR 0.63 \u00c2\u00b5m visible channel image about 1 hour after the accident at 15:10 UTC or 9:10 AM local time (below)<\/em><\/strong>. By this time, the surface visibility had improved to 3 miles at Houston (KHOU) and 10 miles at Beaumont (KBPT).<\/p>\n

\"POES<\/a>

POES AVHRR 0.63 \u00c2\u00b5m visible channel image<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dense fog was a factor in causing a multiple-vehicle accident (an estimated 140 vehicles involved; 2 fatalities; dozens of injuries requiring transport to hospitals) along Interstate 10 between Houston and Beaumont in eastern Texas on the morning of 22 November 2012. The GOES-R Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) Probability product (with the algorithm applied to GOES-13 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,13,11,34,26,49,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avhrr","category-fog-detection","category-goes-13","category-goes-r","category-poes","category-suomi_npp","category-viirs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11875"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11877,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11875\/revisions\/11877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}