![](\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/05\/260519_goes18_goes16_goes19_waterVapor_leesideColdFrontalGravityWave_Plains_anim.gif\")
<\/a>10-minute GOES-18\/GOES-West (left), 5-minute GOES-16 (center) and 5-minute GOES-19\/GOES-East (right) Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 \u00b5m) images, with\/without hourly plots of surface wind barbs and gusts (knots), from 2100 UTC on 18 May to 1701 UTC on 19 May [click to play animated GIF]<\/p><\/div>The GOES-16 satellite was temporarily brought out of storage for annual testing (details<\/strong><\/a>) — which allowed for a 3-GOES (GOES-18\/GOES-West positioned at 137.0 W longitude, GOES-16 at 104.7 W longitude and GOES-19\/GOES-East at 75.2 W longitude) Water Vapor image comparison of the signature of a leeside cold frontal gravity wave (reference<\/strong><\/a>) that propagated southward across the High Plains during the 18 May<\/strong><\/a> – 19 May 2026<\/strong><\/a> period (above)<\/strong><\/em>. The images are displayed in the native projection of each satellite.<\/p>\n In the immediate wake of the cold frontal passage there were northerly\/northeasterly wind gusts of 40-42 kts in the Panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas, as well as in northeastern New Mexico — and the highest peak wind gust at post-frontal METAR sites was 44 kts at Tucumcari, New Mexico (KTCC), which occurred at 0537 UTC (below)<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n GOES-19 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 \u00b5m) image at 0601 UTC on 19 May, with a cursor sample of the METAR report at Tucumcari, New Mexico [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>Surface observations<\/strong><\/a> showed that the cold front moved through Dodge City in southwest Kansas just before 2100 UTC on 18 May — and data from the Dodge City rawinsonde launch a few hours later at 0000 UTC on 19 May (below)<\/strong><\/em> depicted the shallow post-frontal cold air that extended from the surface to the 850 hPa pressure level, as well as dry air throughout much of the middle\/upper troposphere.<\/p>\n Plot of rawinsonde data from Dodge City, Kansas at 0000 UTC on 19 May [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>A plot of the GOES-19 Band 9 weighting function<\/strong><\/a> — calculated using rawinsonde data from Dodge City at 0000 UTC on 19 May (below)<\/strong><\/em> showed that the peak of upwelling 6.9 \u00b5m radiation occurred at the 500 hPa pressure level, with no contribution from the surface. This helped to underscore the vertically-propagating nature of the leeside cold frontal gravity wave, which allowed its unambiguous mid-tropospheric signature to be evident in 6.9 \u00b5m Band 9 water vapor imagery.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>