![](\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2023\/02\/230203_goes16_visible_daySnowFogRGB_SouthernPlains_MidSouth_ice_accrual_anim.gif\")
<\/a>GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 \u00b5m) and Day Snow-Fog RGB images [click to play animated GIF | MP4<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/div>After a prolonged 3-day winter storm that produced highly disruptive accumulations of sleet and freezing rain (WPC Storm Summary<\/strong><\/a>) across parts of the Southern Plains and Mid-South from 31 January<\/strong><\/a> – 02 February 2023<\/strong><\/a>, clouds cleared out across much of those regions on 03 February — allowing GOES-16 (GOES-East)<\/em> “Red” Visible (0.64 \u00b5m<\/strong><\/a>) and Day Snow-Fog RGB<\/strong><\/a> images (above)<\/strong><\/em> to depict some of the areas where significant ice accrual occurred.<\/p>\n The Day Snow-Fog RGB imagery is more useful here, because it leverages the 1.61 \u00b5m<\/strong><\/a> “Snow\/Ice” spectral band. As seen in a plot of ABI<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Spectral Response Functions\u00a0(below)<\/strong>,<\/em>\u00a0snow and ice are efficient\u00a0absorbers<\/em>\u00a0of radiation (and therefore exhibit a low reflectance<\/em>) at the 1.61 \u00b5m wavelength — making those features appear as shades of red in the RGB images (and since ice absorbs even more strongly than snow, ice appears as the darkest shades of red).<\/p>\n Plots of Spectral Response Function for ABI Bands 1-5 (credit: Mat Gunshor, CIMSS) [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>Due to the translucent nature of thicker ice accrual (providing that it is not covered with a layer of light snow), note that some areas of significant ice accrual are not as apparent in the Visible imagery as they are in the RGB imagery — in particular, over parts of western Tennessee, far northwestern Mississippi and southern Arkansas (as shown in a GOES-16 image comparison at 1616 UTC and a NOAA-20 image comparison at 1831 UTC, below).<\/p>\n<\/a>