The March 13-14 Nor’Easter brought widespread winter weather conditions, including blizzard,to the East Coast. Three, 2km water vapor channels on GOES-16 provide a perspective of a developing Nor’Easter not before seen in geostationary orbit. The three moisture channels allow forecasters to view moisture within multiple atmospheric layers, as opposed to one broad layer as is available on the current GOES Imager. Comparisons between the three channels allow forecasters to more correctly identify regions of dry atmosphere versus regions of relatively thin moisture  versus clouds or deeper moisture. Cold areas represent regions of clouds, higher moisture content (sensing higher in the atmosphere) and/or cooler temperatures, while warm areas represent represent cloud-free regions of low moisture content (sensing lower in the atmosphere) and/or warmer temperatures. Additionally, features such as the longwave trough/ridge pattern, shortwaves, and divergence/convergence patterns are apparent in the three water vapor channels. Below is a 3.5 hour, 5-min loop of the deepening Nor-Easter from the morning of March 14.

Figure 1: Full res

-Bill Line, NWS

“The GOES-16 data posted on this page are preliminary, non-operational data and are undergoing testing. Users bear all responsibility for inspecting the data prior to use and for the manner in which the data are utilized.”

As the March 2017 East Coast snow storm developed into Monday evening (March 13), numerous gravity wave patterns appeared within the cloud shield. In particular, Eastern Tennessee saw quite a bit of gravity wave activity between 00 UTC and 02 UTC. These features are indicators of potential turbulence, a hazard to aircraft pilots. Below left is a 10.4 um IR loop from GOES-16 depicting the gravity wave patterns quite well in the higher 2 km spatial resolution. In comparison, the gravity waves are not as easily detected and followed in the corresponding 10.7 um IR imagery from GOES-13 (4 km; right). Additionally, The CONUS GOES-16 imagery was available every 5-min, while GOES-13 imagery, in rapid scan mode, was available every 5 – 30 minutes. The higher temporal resolution further improves the tracking of gravity waves in time.

-Bill Line, NWS

“The GOES-16 data posted on this page are preliminary, non-operational data and are undergoing testing. Users bear all responsibility for inspecting the data prior to use and for the manner in which the data are utilized.”