Conditions were favorable for very large hail, damaging winds and strong tornados during the afternoon/evening of 12 June 2017 across portions of the north-central high plains as an upper low approached the region. GOES-16 was operating in mode 3, flex mode, providing 5-min imagery over the CONUS. Additionally, mesoscale sector 2 (1-min imagery) was located over the region of particular interest where a SPC moderate risk for severe weather was highlighted.

The character of a cu field can be closely monitored in near-real time with the 0.5 km 1-min visible imagery from GOES-16. By Noon on the 12th, the development of cloud streets followed by towering cu and then orphan anvils were seen across portions of southeast Wyoming where strong heating, increasing moisture, and upslope flow were present. These early cloud features indicate that convective initiation is becoming more and more imminent.

Figure 1: 12 June 2017 GOES-16 0.5 km VIS Full resolution: https://satelliteliaisonblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/20170612_vis_wy_small.gif

Convection would develop quickly across southeast Wyoming shortly thereafter and begin to move east. A great way to monitor storm growth and health is to view the GOES-16 VIS and IRW in a two panel display. The VIS allows one to see important cloud details (new initiation, OTs, Enh-Vs, cirrus plumes, etc) in the highest resolution, while temperature trends (and many of those same features at lower resolution) can be monitored in the IRW. Storms that undergo more rapid cooling (in the IR) during their initial development were shown to have a higher chance of producing future severe weather. The 1-min IR imagery allows one to get a precise measurement of the cooling.

Figure 2: 12 June 2017 GOES-16 0.64 um VIS (left) and 10.3 um IR (right). Full resolution: https://satelliteliaisonblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/20170612_visir_wy_small2.gif

At 2100 UTC, GOES-16 was put into mode 4 (continuous full disk mode) for testing, meaning 1-min imagery would no longer be available, but 5-min imagery would continue (and be available over the full disk).

– 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.”