Severe weather developed across the central Plains to upper Midwest on Memorial Day 2022 (May 30). Storms were forced by a potent shortwave trough rounding the base of a broad central US upper trough, and associated surface boundaries.

Per SPC 13Z Day 1 Outlook: “A large field of mid/upper-level cyclonic flow covers most of the
western/central CONUS, anchored by a broad, complex cyclone covering much of the northern/central Rockies and Intermountain region. Primary vorticity maxima are evident in moisture-channel imagery over ID and central/eastern CO. The latter will eject northeastward today, become a compact, closed cyclone in its own right, and deepen considerably, with the 500-mb low reaching east-central SD by 00Z.”

The aforementioned shortwave originating in Southern Colorado around 10Z is analyzed in the following water vapor animation as a west-to-east couplet of warm (drying, descending) and cold (moistening, ascending, cloud development) lifting northeast into the central plains along the southeast periphery of broad cyclonic flow. The drying on the backside and leading moistening/convective activity become more pronounced later in the day as the wave strengthens and lifts into the upper midwest. Overlaying model analysis fields can bolster ones understanding of the water vapor imagery observations, with height fields capturing the broad upper trough and, sometimes, smaller-scale shortwaves, wind field revealing upper level wind jet structure, and surface fields showing the patterns influence on the surface pressure pattern.

Locally, NWS Omaha, NW discusses: “Recent surface analysis and satellite observations place a deepening surface low north of Yankton, South Dakota, with a southward extending dryline that is draped along the Nebraska/Iowa border and strong gradient winds have been observed on both sides of the feature (with gusts up to 46 kts). Water vapor imagery highlights the deepening mid-level support with a strong punch of dry air moving northward behind the aforementioned surface low.”

NWS, Des Moines, Iowa provided a great analysis of satellite imagery in a mid-day AFD: “Lots of goodies one can pick up on satellite ahead of the strong to severe weather potential later today/tonight. As of early this afternoon you can clearly pick up on the potent shortwave rounding the base of the negatively tilted trough that is responsible for aiding a deepening surface low, a strong dry slot/dry air intrusion moving northward through portions of C/E Nebraska and E South Dakota, and the explosive convection along its leading edge. Additionally on visible satellite imagery, a sharp surface dry line is seen sliding into E Nebraska and drops back into C Kansas. Ahead of the surface dry line, satellite imagery corroborates hi-res guidance depictions of an area of potent low- mid level moisture transport with mid-level cellular cloud cover. Many of the aforementioned goodies will affect portions of Iowa tonight as the parent trough continues to translate northeastward, leading to the potential for strong to severe storms as well as a potential sting jet.”

Associated visible imagery is shown in Figure 2, along with Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB Imagery in Figure 3. The DCPD RGB imagery provides a little more context to the VIS, including areas where cu are beginning to glaciate/initiate. Slightly earlier, SPC also discussed development along the northern part of the dryline here.

Northward moisture transport ahead of the dryline is also diagnosed in GOES-16 TPW imagery as a narrow corridor of 1.25″+ TPW.

Convection continued to develop south along the dryline, as analyzed in satellite imagery and discussed in a later SPC MCD here. This evolution was captured in a 1-min sector.

Later around and following sunset, the cold front caught up with the retreating dryline, leading to another round of convective initiation. While surface obs provide some information about the evolution of these boundaries, satellite imagery captures their movement in much more detail, temporally and spatially. In this case, the GOES-16 Split Window Difference appears to have captured both boundaries quite well leading up to and through their interaction.

One could also follow the evolution of the boundary interaction in Nighttime Microphysics RGB imagery (which forecasters would want to be viewing anyway post transition to night), which includes the SWD along with the IRW and Night Fog Diff. In this RGB, convective evolution is analyzed by transition from Blue to Pale Cyan (development of liquid cloud), and then to Red (glaciation/cooling). Using satellite imagery to track boundaries in this manner helps forecasters better anticipate where and when convection will develop, important for mesoanalysis, and which could be communicated in forecast discussions, social media, and other DSS means.

Bill Line, NESDIS/STAR

GOES-18 data is preliminary and non-operational.

GOES-18 captured intense wildfires and widespread severe thunderstorms across the central US on 11 May 2022. GOES-18 mesoscale sector 2 was positioned over the southern high plains, encompassing large wildfires in New Mexico, and thunderstorm development in west Texas. A GOES-18 VIS/SWIR combo animations displays the large wildfire hot spots and associated smoke plumes, along with connective initiation along the west Texas dryline.

In fact, GOES-16 and GOES-17 also had mesoscale sectors positioned over that location, allowing for a comparison between the three. GOES-18 imagery appears very similar to that from GOES-16 and GOES-17, as it should, aside from parallax differences due to the varied viewing angles between the three satellites.

Focusing east on the thunderstorms along the dryline, 1-min 500-m visible imagery provides excellent detail into convective initiation and storm top features.

Combining the VIs (Ch02) channel with NIR (Ch05) and IR (Ch13) channels, we get the popular Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB from GOES-18. The multispectral product provides information about storm top glaciation and cooling, indicators of convective initiation, that are not apparent in a single channel alone.

Focusing further north in Kansas, the details of a rapidly development thunderstorm are revealed in a rocking animation of GOES-18 1-min VIS.

Severe thunderstorms also developed across the upper midwest, where another GOES-18 mesoscale sector was positioned. This time, we observe storm top characteristics, such as overshooting tops and above anvil cirrus plumes, along with additional convective development and decay, using the GOES-18 VIS-IR sandwich combo imagery.

GOES-18 CONUS sector (5-min) IR imagery shows the longer-period evolution of the severe convection across the upper midwest from the 11th through the morning of the 12th.

Zooming way out, we get a full disk view of GOES-18 UL WV imagery from last night through this morning.

Comparing water vapor imagery from the three GOES-R series satellites, we see that while GOES-17 WV imagery suffers from the Cooling System issue at times, corresponding GOES-16 and GOES-18 imagery appears great! GOES-18 is scheduled to begin it’s drift west to the GOES-West position in a few days, and eventually will become the operational GOES-West satellite early next year.

Bill Line, NESDIS and CIRA

GOES-18 images and animations in this blog post are considered preliminary and non-operational.

On 11 May 2020, NESDIS released an “Earth From Orbit” GOES-18 Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) first light video and associated article, which can be found here. The images and animations included in the video are some of the first captured by the GOES-18 ABI, including imagery from 5-8 May 2022. This blog post includes several of the animations from the video such that they can be viewed individually and with context. Included are an array of 10-min full disk, 5-min CONUS, and 1-min Mesoscale sector imagery. Additional animations and images from the first light video can be found in this blog post from CIMSS. Be sure to view the 1080p version of the videos!

First, a full disk Geocolor imagery from the day on the 5 May 2022, capturing the full hemisphere from the satellite currently at the 89.5W degree longitude position. The satellite is scheduled to begin drifting west toward the 136.8W position, near GOES-West, on May 16, arriving on June 6. A full schedule of the GOES-West transition can be found here.

Most of the first light imagery included in the video is from May 5, when a variety of active weather occurred across the US. GOES-18 provided incredible images of severe thunderstorms developing from Texas east into the southern MS valley area. First, GOES-18 upper-level water vapor imagery reveals the upper level features responsible for the development of widespread convection.

GOES-18 visible and IR satellite imagery captured important storm top details, such as overshooting tops and above anvil cirrus plumes, in addition to cumulus cloud evolution, convective initiation and decay, and boundary movement.

Further east, GOES-18 Geocolor imagery captured wildfire smoke over Florida, along with cumulus cloud development and eventual convective initiation.

Elsewhere on the 5th, GOES-18 Geocolor imagery revealed cu streaming across the Yucatan Peninsula, and stratus clouds sloshing along the Chile coast.

On 8 May 2022, critical fire weather conditions across the southwest resulted in ongoing wildfires across New Mexico to grow and generate large smoke plumes, which were captured in detail by GOES-18 Geocolor imagery. Also evident in the imagery is a dense region of blowing dust coming out of northwest New Mexico.

Bill Line, NESDIS/STAR. Non-Geocolor Imagery created in AWIPS.

Geocolor Imagery created by Dan Lindsey (GOES-R), Curtis Seaman (CIRA), Steve Miller (CIRA), and Dakota Smith (CIRA).

Thanks to Natalie Tourville (CIRA) for managing GOES-18 dataflow to CIRA, and to many many others for making GOES-18 ABI possible!.

A broad upper trough digging across the western US and associated 60+ knot mid-level jet yielded gusty winds and low RH across a broad portion of the southwest US on Sunday. Not only did widespread critical fire weather conditions exist, but numerous areas of blowing dust developed during the day amidst winds gusting over 50 mph at the surface. GOES Water Vapor imagery with RAP analysis fields captures the evolution of the system on Sunday (Fig 1). Downward momentum transfer across the southwest can be visualized in the WV imagery as darkening/warming (drying). Further, the tightening pressure gradient is apparent in the RAP MSLP field. Both GOES-West Mesoscale sectors were positioned across the Southwest to capture the blowing dust and wildfire threat.

A broad view from GOES-East Geocolor and IR SWD imagery during the afternoon provides a nice overview of the event (Fig 2 and 3). Blowing dust developed across soCA, NV, AZ, NM, CO, and wTx, with impressive smoke plumes also coming out of New Mexico and Arizona. Quite a few NWS Dust Storm Warnings were issued across the Southwest during the day, highlighting locations where blowing dust was restricting visibility considerably. As has been noted in past posts, these warning polygons are typically issued and shaped with some combination of, depending on availability, surface obs, webcams, other visual, satellite imagery. Satellite imagery was utilized by NWS offices in the issuance of the Dust Storm Warnings, discussion of the forecast in Area Forecast Discussions, and on Social Media, by impacted NWS offices.

Focusing on early blowing dust in New Mexico, NWS Albuquerque noted in an AFD at 2059 UTC: “A prominent dust plume is already evident on RGB satellite imagery over San Juan county where a Dust Storm Warning has been issued, and subsequent statements will likely follow.” The Dust Storm Warning, issued earlier at 1826 UTC, mentions Satellite imagery as the source of the warning. The NWS ABQ Twitter account communicated the location of the hazard using GOES Dust RGB imagery. One-minute Geocolor (Fig 4) and Dust RGB (Fig 5) imagery capture the blowing dust and smoke plumes in detail.

Further West NWS Las Vegas issued numerous Dust Storm Warnings across their CWA, with one reading: “At 417 PM PDT, dust channel moving across Death Valley Road near Dumont Dunes continues to be impressive on satellite imagery and is likely producing less than a quarter mile visibility.” By later in the afternoon, while dust could be diagnosed in GOES-West visible imagery (such as Geocolor), the lack of forward scattering from this location during the afternoon toward GOES-West makes it more difficult, compared to from GOES-East (Fig 6).

Therefore, bringing in IR-based products, such as SWD, to enhance dust appearance in the imagery is recommended (Fig 7), and/or viewing the IR-based RGBs (Fig 8).

Additional mentions of satellite imagery in AFDs for dust detection during this event included:

From NWS Phoenix, AZ at 2132 UTC: “Meanwhile, further west across the Imperial Valley blowing dust has already been detected on visible satellite imagery and local web cams, and this threat will continue into this evening.”

From NWS Reno, NV at 2133 UTC: “For now, we will keep an eye on gusts of 60-70 mph with wind prone areas possibly gusting to 80+ mph. Driving along N-S oriented roads such as US 395 and US 95 will be difficult for high-profile vehicles through the afternoon. Blowing dust is visible on satellite imagery near Lovelock, and this is likely to persist throughout Monday.”

From NWS Pueblo, CO at 2315 UTC: “Satellite imagery depicts a narrow channel of dust extending from northwest New Mexico northeastward into south-central Colorado. While much of this dust in southern Colorado appears to be concentrated aloft, surface visibilities have been lowering across the San Luis Valley, and may continue to fall this evening as additional dust is transported into the region. As a result, a Blowing Dust Advisory has been issued for the San Luis Valley, in addition to the eastern San Juan Mountains — specifically applying to southern areas of the mountains close to the Colorado-New Mexico border.”

Additional examples of NWS offices communicating the blowing dust hazard using satellite imagery from NWS Grand Junction, CO (DEBRA Dust) and El Paso, TX (Geocolor) are shown below.

Satellite imagery is showing a decent plume of dust heading into the southeast San Juan range as winds gusts in the 45 to 65 mph range. #cowx pic.twitter.com/4XFNzec8eg

— NWS Grand Junction (@NWSGJT) May 8, 2022

6:30 pm: A look at satellite imagery this evening quickly shows the impact the strong winds have on the Borderland, bringing in smoke from a fire in AZ, and lofting dust and gypsum (from White Stands). #txwx #NMwx pic.twitter.com/FroamUY3JT

— NWS El Paso (@NWSElPaso) May 9, 2022

Bill Line, NESDIS and CIRA