{"id":36013,"date":"2020-03-19T23:59:59","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T23:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/?p=36013"},"modified":"2020-03-22T20:23:36","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T20:23:36","slug":"developing-winter-storm-over-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/archives\/36013","title":{"rendered":"Developing winter storm over Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GOES-16<\/a>

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 um)<\/em> images, with hourly plots of surface wind barbs and gusts (knots)<\/em> [click to play animation | MP4<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/div>As a winter storm began to organize over Colorado on 19 March 2020<\/strong><\/a>, GOES-16 (GOES-East)<\/em> Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 um<\/strong><\/a>) images (above)<\/strong><\/em> showed the developing\u00a0 middle tropospheric cyclonic circulation across the Colorado\/Kansas\/Nebraska border area. Peak wind gusts included 60 mph in Colorado and Nebraska, and 62 mph in Kansas (WPC Storm Summary<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n

As a result of the strong winds, several areas of blowing dust were seen in GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 um<\/strong><\/a>), Split Window Difference (10.3-12.3 um<\/strong><\/a>) and Dust<\/strong><\/a> Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images (below)<\/strong><\/em>: (1) a well-defined plume that originated in southeastern Colorado and moved northeastward across western Kansas, (2) a smaller plume originating north\/northwest of Lamar, Colorado which moved eastward toward the Colorado\/Kansas border, (3) a small plume that originated over the burn scar from the 07 March “Beaver Fire”<\/strong><\/a> in the Oklahoma Panhandle, and (4) multiple narrow plumes of dust in the wake of a cold front that moved southeastward across the region late in the day (which reduced the surface visiblity to 2 miles in southwestern Kansas).<\/p>\n

\"GOES-16<\/a>

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 um),<\/em> Split Window Difference (10.3-12.3 um)<\/em> and Dust RGB images [click to play animation | MP4<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/div>A NOAA-20 True Color RGB image as viewed using RealEarth<\/a><\/strong> (below)<\/strong><\/em> provided a more detailed view of the dust plume north of Lamar, Colorado as well as the longer plume which stretched from southeastern Colorado into western Kansas.<\/p>\n

\"NOAA-20<\/a>

NOAA-20 True Color RGB image at 18:40 UTC [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>\n

GOES-16 Visible images with plots of GLM<\/strong><\/a> Groups (below)<\/strong><\/em> revealed a few clusters of lightning associated with convective elements that were likely producing thundersnow across northeastern Colorado and near the Colorado\/Nebraska border. Where warmer air was still present near the Colorado\/Kansas border, a more longer-lived thunderstorm was producing rainfall at the surface.<\/p>\n

\"GOES-16<\/a>

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 um)<\/em> images, with GLM Groups plotted in red and hourly surface weather type plotted in yellow [click to play animation | MP4<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/div>
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This poor TV tower was blasted with #lightning<\/a> about 60 times yesterday during the winter storm. @JimCantore<\/a> we had a huge #thundersnow<\/a> event in #COwx<\/a> yesterday triggered by TV towers and wind turbines. Check out the blog I wrote here: https:\/\/t.co\/9lqqL1cK78<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/F7rkDOhCVM<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ch?is Vagas|?y (@COweatherman) March 20, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n