During the late evening hours on April 12th, 2022, convection initiated along a retreating dryline and advancing cold front in southern Nebraska and central Kansas. Initiation across the line can be observed from the Clean-IR band (Ch 13) from GOES-16 and the NEXRAD mosaic below. The near-uniform initiation of these thunderstorms along the dryline provided a unique example of how GOES imagery can be combined with radar data to monitor rapid thunderstorm development and dissipation.
Additionally, the initiation and subsequent outflow boundary along the leading edge of the front produced an undular bore, which traveled across central Oklahoma from 0600 Z to 1000 Z and initiated convection just after 1030 Z. Tracking the bore/front in this scenario could have been done by the Clean-IR band or radar (as seen below). However, the Nighttime Microphysics RGB can provide additional information not observed from a single ABI band or from radar.
Strong contributions from the Green band (Ch 13 – Ch 7) and moderate contributions from the Red band (Ch 15 – Ch 13) in the RGB recipe make the green-yellow clouds formed along the bore stand out from the magenta surface. Early signs of initiation along from the front can also be observed from strong contributions by both the Red and Green band, with low contributions from the Blue band (Ch 13), and the development of stratus clouds in central and eastern Oklahoma indicate an environment with greater low level moisture. In this scenario, the Nighttime Microphysics can provide an early ‘heads up’ that CI may be coming soon as the front moves into a more favorable environment for severe weather in southeast Oklahoma, southwest Arkansas, and northeast Texas. This coincides with the SPC Mesoscale Discussion issued just after 1200 Z.
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