Severe storms got going early across E Oklahoma into Arkansas on Wednesday, April 26, 2017. Storms developed in E Oklahoma before sunrise along a strong cold front as an upper trough moved east into the region. One way to visualize the development and evolution of convection around sunrise in GOES-16 imagery is to combine the IR and VIS into one animation. In the animation below, 0.64 um imagery is overlaid on 10.4 um IR imagery. Reflectance values of 1.4 or less in the VIS are made transparent, so only the IR will be apparent prior to sunrise. As the sun rises and reflectance values rise, the visible imagery will automatically appear over the IR. This method allows you to use a single panel to monitor convection around sunrise and have the best available imagery as it becomes available (2 km IR prior to sunrise, 0.5 km VIS after sunrise).

26 April 2017 5-min GOES-16 IR (2 km) and VIS (0.5 km) imagery for strong-severe storms in OK and AR. Imagery transitions to VIS after visible reflectance values rise above 1.4. Full resolution: https://satelliteliaisonblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/20170426_ar_severe_visir_anno.gif

– Bill Line

“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.”