A compact shortwave trough skirting across the norther-central US/Canada border sent a cold front racing south down the central US plains during the day/evening of October 3, 2018.

GOES-16 15-min full disk water vapor imagery depicted the progression of the shortwave east along the US/Canada border (Fig 1). Since NWS/AWIPS does not display GOES-R full disk imagery at full resolution, I prefer to do my long, large scale water vapor analysis time-matched to the full disk imagery with the full resolution CONUS imagery overlaid. The cold front can also be diagnosed in water vapor imagery surging south through the plains, is especially apparent over the high plains, and forcing the development of convection from Kansas to Michigan.

Figure 1: 3-4 October 2018 GOES-16 15-min water vapor imagery. Full res

IR-Window imagery provides a highly detailed, both spatially and temporally, depiction of the cold air advancing through the plains (Fig 2).

Figure 2: 3-4 October 2018 GOES-16 15-min IR window imagery. Full res

The Land Surface Skin Temperature (Fig 3) and Total Precipitable Water (Fig 4) baseline derived products depict the cold and very dry airmass pushing south into the northern plains behind the front.

Figure 3: 3-4 October 2018 GOES-16 15-min Land Surface Temperature. Full res

Figure 4: 3-4 October 2018 GOES-16 15-min Total Precipitable Water. Full res

Bill Line, NWS