Satellite Liaison Blog

During the afternoon of May 20, 2013, the city of Moore, Oklahoma was struck by a large, violent tornado that caused widespread damage and numerous fatalities.  Some aspects of the tornado and the resulting damage are observable from space.  As with Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Isaac, the VIIRS day-night band can be used to monitor changes in light resulting from a variety of features, such as moonlight reflection off of cloud tops or the surface, lightning from thunderstorms, fires, or human activity.  The images below show day-night band imagery prior to the major tornado as observed in the early morning of May 20 and an image obtained in the early morning of May 21.  In the May 21 image, thunderstorms continued east of Oklahoma City.  Reflected moonlight provides imaging of ongoing thunderstorms and the DNB captures a few lightning flashes.  Clearing skies over the Oklahoma City area help to identify…