{"id":53997,"date":"2023-08-11T23:59:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T23:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/?p=53997"},"modified":"2023-08-18T16:19:03","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T16:19:03","slug":"strong-thunderstorms-move-across-alaskas-seward-peninsula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/archives\/53997","title":{"rendered":"Strong thunderstorms move across Alaska’s Seward Peninsula"},"content":{"rendered":"
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10-minute GOES-18 “Red” Visible (0.64 \u00b5m, top) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 \u00b5m, bottom) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n

10-minute Full Disk GOES-18 (GOES-West)<\/em> “Red” Visible (0.64 \u00b5m<\/strong><\/a>) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 \u00b5m<\/strong><\/a>) images (above)<\/strong><\/em> showed clusters of convection that moved west-southwestward across Alaska’s Seward Peninsula on 11 August 2023.<\/p>\n

Beginning at 2300 UTC, a Mesoscale Domain Sector<\/strong><\/a> was positioned to cover western Alaska — providing images at 1-minute intervals (below)<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

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1-minute GOES-18 “Red” Visible (0.64 \u00b5m, top) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 \u00b5m, bottom) images, with 15-minute METAR surface reports plotted in yellow [click to play animated GIF | MP4<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/div>\n

A cursor-sampled METAR report from Tin City, Alaska (PATC) at 2324 UTC (below)<\/strong><\/em> indicated that a heavy thunderstorm with rain (+TSRA) was occurring at that time.<\/p>\n

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Cursor-sampled METAR report from Tin City, Alaska (PATC) at 2324 UTC [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>\n

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Cursor-sampled values of GOES-18 10.3 \u00b5m infrared brightness temperature, Cloud Top Temperature derived product and Cloud Top Height derived product at 2324 UTC [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>\n

A cursor-sampling of GOES-18 10.3 \u00b5m infrared brightness temperature, Cloud Top Temperature<\/strong><\/a> derived product and Cloud Top Height<\/strong><\/a> derived product at 2324 UTC (above)<\/strong><\/em> revealed vales of -53.37\u00baC, -57.24\u00baC and 32953 ft, respectively. Note that these values were sampled for convective cloud tops that appeared to be located about 20 miles NW of Tin City, over open water — but this was taking parallax<\/strong><\/a> into account, which can be significant at higher latitudes (below)<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

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GOES-18 parallax correction vectors (green) and magnitudes (km, red) for a cloud object at an altitude of 30000 feet [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>\n

While summertime thunderstorms are common across much of Interior Alaska, a heavy thunderstorm over the far western portion of the Seward Peninsula is rather rare.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Just a heavy thunderstorm at, checks notes, Tin City, Alaska – along the Bering Sea coast, less than 60 miles from mainland Russia. With multiple decades of observations, this is only the 2nd instance of a heavy thunderstorm at Tin City (Aug 7, 2013). ?? pic.twitter.com\/iqpEUh84Fj<\/a><\/p>— Brian Brettschneider (@Climatologist49) August 12, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>