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!.