Low relative humidities and strong wind gusts combined with very dry fuels resulted in the rapid development and growth of wildfires in southern California overnight on 12/2 – 12/3 2020. GOES-West 3.9 um imagery captured the wildfire development and evolution through the evening (Fig 1). The display also includes surface observations, which captured nearby wind gusts to 46 knots. RAP RH analysis indicated widespread humidities below 15%, with values dipping as low as 5% near the wildfires.
Figure 1: 03 Dec 2020 GOES-West SWIR (hotter BTs are darker gray), surface obs, RAP sfc RH. Large fires are labeled in yellow. Higher res
VIIRS Day Night Band Near Constant Contrast Imagery, available in AWIPS, also captured the glow associated with the southern California Wildfires as they developed (Fig 2). Raising the “Max” value in the colormap range for NCC considerably (in this case to 30), allows the bright glow of the wildfires to stand out against the less bright city lights. During this evening, there were two passes of SNPP and one pass of NOAA-20 over this location, allowing for three images within a ~ 1 hour and 40 minute timespan. The VIIRS imagery is compared with a GOES-West SWIR image, exemplifying the significant amount of detail added from 750 m VIIRS DNB over 2 km (at nadir) ABI SWIR. The glow from the wildfires appears as very light gray to white, while city lights are a medium gray, in this example.
Figure 2: 03 Dec 2020 SNPP and NOAA-20 VIIRS DNB NCC (brighter light is whiter), GOES-West SWIR (hotter BTs are darker gray). Large fires are labeled in yellow. Higher res
A shortwave trough ejecting out of the Great Basin east into the central US plains sent a cold front south through the southern high plains during the afternoon/evening of 11 Nov 2020. Gusty winds developing ahead of and behind the front resulted in widespread blowing dust across the region. Widespread wind gusts in excess of 45 mph were reported, along with visibility reductions generally to around four miles, and in some cases, to near zero. The video below depicts the blowing dust during the afternoon in far east-central Colorado.
GOES-West water vapor imagery from the previous evening through the day on the 14th reveals the influencing trough as it tracked through the region (Fig 1).
Figure 1: 14 Nov 2020 GOES-West 6.2 um Water Vapor Imagery. Higher Res
Blowing dust already developed during the late morning and early afternoon across northeast Colorado. Lofted dust was captured well in an animation of 500 m visible imagery with a cold 10.3 um IR BT overlay in order to mask out clouds (Fig 2). The 500 m nadir resolution is adequate to pinpoint the source points of the many individual dust plumes, similar to smoke emanating from a wildfire hot spot.
Figure 2: 14 Nov 2020 GOES-East 0.64 um VIS and 10.3 um IR over northeast CO. Higher Res
The lofted dust was also captured during the day in the Day Land Cloud RGB which incorporates the 500 m VIS channel in addition to 0.86 um Veggie band and 1.6 um snow/ice band, allowing it to capture surface/near-surface features well and differentiate ice and water clouds (Fig 3).
Figure 3: 14 Nov 2020 GOES-East Day Land Cloud RGB over northeast CO. Higher Res
Similar animations capture afternoon blowing dust developing across southern Colorado, including dust collecting along the south-bound cold front as it tracked into the PHs (Fig 4-5).
Figure 4: 14 Nov 2020 GOES-East 0.64 um VIS and 10.3 um IR over southeast CO. Higher ResFigure 5: 14 Nov 2020 GOES-East Day Land Cloud RGB over southeast CO. Higher Res
Dust was similarly lofted across E NM and W TX in dry conditions with strong westerly winds (Fig 6-7).
Figure 6: 14 Nov 2020 GOES-East 0.64 um VIS and 10.3 um IR over western TX. Higher ResFigure 7: 14 Nov 2020 GOES-East Day Land Cloud RGB over western TX. Higher Res
While GOES-East visible imagery provided better detection of blowing dust during the afternoon/evening due to increasing forward scattering, GOES-West contributed a better depiction during the morning. Two areas of very active morning blowing dust are shown from the GOES-West perspective: southern Colorado just south of la Junta, and far southwest TX (Fig 8-9).
Figure 8: 14 Nov 2020 GOES-West 0.64 um VIS and 10.3 um IR over southeast CO. Higher ResFigure 9: 14 Nov 2020 GOES-West 0.64 um VIS and 10.3 um IR over southwest TX. Higher Res
The blowing dust continued after dark (after 2311 UTC) across much of the same region, particularly along and behind the the cold front pushing south out of KS into the PHs. IR only animations also captured the blowing dust evolution. The advantage of the IR-only imagery products is that dust can continue to be diagnosed after dark, in addition to during the day.
The evolution of blowing dust during the day into the night is shown first in the SWD, using a simple linear grayscale color table, with IR Window cold BTs overlaid (Fig 10). This simple display reveals areas of likely blowing dust into the night (dark gray to black), along with cloud top temperature trend information.
Figure 10: 14-15 Nov 2020 GOES-East 10.3 – 12.3 um Split Window Difference over southern Plains. Higher Res
The default AWIPS Dust RGB, which incorporates the SWD along with the Split Cloud Top Phase and IR Window channel, captures the dust (pink) evolution into the night along with cloud top phase information (Fig 11).
Figure 11: 14-15 Nov 2020 GOES-East Default Dust RGB over southern Plains. Higher Res
Tweaks to that RGB, similar to those outlined in this blog post, help to make the lofted dust more easily diagnosable (dark cyan; Fig 12).
Figure 12: 14-15 Nov 2020 GOES-East Modified Dust RGB over southern Plains. Higher Res
Finally, another RGB discussed here allows for dust (bright green) tracking in addition to wildfire hotspot detection (Fig 13). In this case, there did not appear to be any active fires in the region during the time period.
Figure 13: 14-15 Nov 2020 GOES-East Dust-Fire RGB over southern Plains. Higher Res
750 m VIIRS True Color imagery captured the early evolution of the blowing dust from 1930 UTC (SNPP) to 2020 UTC (NOAA-20) across E CO (Fig 14) and W TX (Fig 15).
Figure 14: 14 Nov 2020 VIIRS True Color Imagery over E CO. From NASA Worldview Higher resFigure 15: 14 Nov 2020 VIIRS True Color Imagery over E NM and W TX. From NASA Worldview Higher res
Finally, an even higher resolution view (10 m) of the blowing dust is captured by the Sentinal-2 mission. These data are only available over a given point every few days, and are not as quickly available to forecasters as the NOAA satellite data, but provide a very high resolution, confirming view after the fact in some cases. The images shared in Figures 16 and 17 show the very early stages of lofted dust (1753 UTC) across southern Wyoming (east of Cheyenne) and southeast Colorado (south of La Junta). The source points of the lofted dust are clearly evident in this imagery.
Figure 16: 14 Nov 2020 Sentinal-2 True Color Imagery over southern WY. From Sentinel Hub EO Browser. Higher resFigure 17: 14 Nov 2020 Sentinal-2 True Color Imagery over southern CO. From Sentinel Hub EO Browser. Higher res
The following tweets from NWS Amarillo presents photo of the impending blowing dust in the Texas Panhandle, along with a satellite view (GOES Dust RGB) representing the extent of blowing dust and its forecast evolution.
4:33 PM CST, 11/14: A wall of #BlowingDust is moving through the northern #Texas Panhandle. This picture was shared with us from the Perryton Feeders along US Highway 70 south of #Perryton, #Texas. Expect sudden reductions of visibility (as low as 3 miles). #phwx#txwxpic.twitter.com/v3pcltSXtt
5:30 PM 11/14: #dust is moving through the northern Panhandles and is expected to continue spreading southward over the next couple hours through the blue highlighted area. Visibility could drop to around 3 miles so take it easy out there. #phwxpic.twitter.com/XqWXATK453
A previous blog post documented the explosive growth of the East Troublesome Fire during the day of Oct 21 through the late evening. The fire had spread east to near the Continental Divide, west of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), slowing by late that night.
During the morning of 22 Oct, NWS BOU forecasters monitoring the wildfire hot spot in GOES-East imagery noted an eastward movement of the far eastern portion of the fire, northeast of Grand Lake and west of Estes Park, possibly across the Continental Divide (Fig 1).
Figure 1: 22 Oct 2020 GOES-East Shortwave IR Window Channel imagery. Darker pixels are hotter brightness temperatures. The gray lines indicate contours of 11,000 ft agl elevation, and represent the Continental Divide. The hot spot accelerates east across the Divide late in the animation. Higher res
An image captured by BOU forecasters shows the Fire Radiative Power product in relation to the most recent burn scar shapefile and other local geographic features and towns (Fig 2). Accounting for the surface parallax (from GOES-East, surface features are displaced to the north and west at this location/elevation by several km), fire associated with the easternmost hot spot would actually be situated to the southeast, just east of the Divide and west of Bear Lake in RMNP.
Figure 2: 1306 UTC 22 Oct 2020 GOES-East Fire Power Derived product, burn scar outlines (yellow) from NWS BOU. Higher res
Accounting for surface parallax, BOU believed that the hot spot may have advanced east across the Continental Divide during this period. Based on this development as diagnosed in GOES-East imagery, BOU forecasters alerted (via phone call) RMNP dispatch (and Laminar County) to the possibility that the fire had pushed east across the Divide into western RMNP. They were unaware of fire growth into the park at the time, and would go on to call out fire partners to investigate. Although it took a while to get confirmation, it would be confirmed that the fire had indeed crossed over the Continental Divide.
A cold front would soon push west into the I-25 corridor and eventually to Estes Park, dropping temperatures and raising humidity’s with a light east wind. The moist stable layer may have made it west up to the fire, putting a damper on fire behavior. GOES Natural Color Fire imagery from the early afternoon showed low stratus draped across the eastern Colorado plains, while the wildfire continued to burn hot west of the Divide in the presence of still dry and windy conditions (Fig 3). Also diagnosed in the imagery was a thick smoke plume with pyrocu spreading well east over the stratus deck. The smoke plume masked the hot spot in RMNP for the rest of the afternoon/evening.
Figure 3: 22 Oct 2020 GOES-East 1-min Natural Color Fire RGB. Higher res
During the evening of the 22nd, the glow associated with the fire in western RMNP could be diagnosed in (terrain corrected) VIIRS Day Night Band imagery (Fig 4).
Figure 4: 0903 UTC NOAA-200 VIIRS DNB NCC (left) and topo map (right). Higher res
This is a great example of a forecast office utilizing GOES imagery to provide potentially life saving IDSS to core partners.
Bill Line, NESDIS and CIRA (with input from NWS BOU)
The East Troublesome Fire, in Grand County, Colorado near Grand Lake and west of Rocky Mountain National Park, experienced substantial growth during the afternoon/evening of 21 October 2020. Dry environmental and fuel conditions, along with gusty winds, caused the fire to grow from 19,086 acres to 125,602 acres during the 1-day timeframe per Inciweb (see maps below).
GOES-East imagery captured the rapid growth of the associated hot spot signature. Throughout the event, NWS Boulder shared GOES-East imagery of the fire on social media to help inform the public of it’s evolution as it quickly spread east. A couple examples are shown below.
VIIRS imagery from the early afternoon captured the wildfire as it began it’s rapid growth (Fig 1). The Fire Radiative Power product provided a high resolution view of the heat associated the fire, highlighting a particularly active zone over the northeast portion of the fire (which would go on to continue to expand east rapidly). The underlay of VIIRS True Color imagery shows the associated smoke plume with pyrocu developing near the hot spot. This imagery is available online from the JSTAR mapper.
Figure 1: 21 Oct 2020 SNPP VIIRS daytime Fire Radiative Power product, True Color imagery. Higher res
The daytime evolution of the wildfire is shown through the GOES-East Natural Color Fire RGB in Figure 2. The rapid growth of the wildfire begins after 2000 UTC, with the large smoke plume extending well east. Ashfall was abundant across downstream locations such as Fort Collins and Loveland. Pyrocumulus clouds were also abundant with the smoke plume.
Figure 2: 21 Oct 2020 GOES-East Natural Color Fire RGB. Higher res
A VIS-IR-SWIR combo animation extending after sunset highlights the development of the smoke plume, including eventual cooling of pyrocu to as cold as -60C after dark (Fig 3).
Figure 3: 21 Oct 2020 GOES-East VIS, semi-transparent SWIR, semi-transparent IR. Higher res
Long animations of GOES-East SWIR and Fire Temperature RGB show the full evolution of the wildfire hot spot growth on the 21st from Noon through around midnight (Fig 4-5). Steady growth/heating is observed through teh afternoon, before the rapid acceleration east after dark to near the Continental Divide. west of Rocky Mountain National Park.
Figure 4: 21 Oct 2020 GOES-East SWIR. Higher resFigure 5: 21 Oct 2020 GOES-East Fire Temperature RGB. Higher res
Similar time periods but zoomed out images provide another perspective of the large growth and massive size of the fire (Fig 6-7).
Figure 6: 21 Oct 2020 GOES-East SWIR. Higher resFigure 7: 21 Oct 2020 GOES-East Fire Temperature RGB. Higher res
The fire becomes so hot in areas that the signal in SWIR channel becomes saturated. This is a situation where the Fire Temperature RGB becomes a little more useful for those wishing to monitor fire heating trends the most active/hottest regions of the wildfire. Figure 8 from 0131 UTC compares SWIR with Fire Temperature RGB, exemplifying the power of the RGB to reveal more detailed temperature information after the SWIR channel becomes saturated. While the SWIR saturates, the Fire Temp RGB shows progressively hotter regions from red to yellow to white through it’s inclusion of the 2.2 um and 1.6 um bands, in addition to the SWIR.
Figure 8: 0131 UTC 22 Oct 2020 GOES-East SWIR (left), Fire Temperature RGB (right).
GOES-West similarly displayed the evolution of the wildfire through the afternoon/evening (Fig 9).
Figure 9: 21 Oct 2020 GOES-West Fire Temperature RGB. Higher res
A couple hours after midnight, SNPP and NOAA-20 VIIRS DNB NCC imagery revealed the glow of the now very large hot spot associated with the East Troublesome Fire, as well as the most active areas (Fig 10). The massive size can be compared with the City of Denver to the east.
The VIIRS Fire Radiative Power Product, shown earlier in this post, is also available at night, and shown in Figure 11. Again, the product provides a higher resolution view of the current location of the wildfire, along with the hottest areas.
Figure 11: 22 Oct 2020 SNPP VIIRS nighttime Fire Radiative Power product. Higher res
Wildfires remained active across northern Colorado by 20 Oct 2020. The Cameron Peak Fire, west of Fort Collins, had grown to over 200,000 acres, the largest wildfire in Colorado recorded history.
Viewing GOES-East SWIR imagery over northern Colorado during the morning of Oct 20, a hot spot is barely apparent from the Cameron Peak Fire, just west of Fort Collins (Fig 1-2 top). From the SWIR and other channels, one easily finds that this is due to cloud cover. However, the western US has the benefit of overlapping 5-min (CONUS/PACUS) imagery from GOES-East and GOES-West satellites. Upon viewing GOES-West SWIR imagery, a hot spot associated with the Cameron Peak Fire is readily apparent through the morning (Fig 1-2 bottom).
Figure 1: 20 Oct 2020 GOES-East (top) and GOES-West (bottom) shortwave IR imagery. Higher resFigure 2: 1611 UTC 20 Oct 2020 GOES-East (top) and GOES-West (bottom) shortwave IR imagery, annotated. Higher res
Viewing Natural Color Fire RGB imagery, the quasi-stationary cloud masking the hot spot in GOES-East imagery is obviously situated to the east of the wildfire in GOES-West imagery, allowing for a clear view of the hot spot (Fig 3-4). This is a good visualization of parallax, and how clouds will appear situated at different locations relative to the surface in reality, and between GOES-East and GOES-West.
Figure 3: 20 Oct 2020 GOES-East (top) and GOES-West (bottom) natural color fire RGB imagery. Higher resFigure 4: 1611 UTC 20 Oct 2020 GOES-East (top) and GOES-West (bottom) natural color fire RGB, annotated. Higher res
It is important for forecasters in the west to remember that they have two options for 5-min geostationary imagery, and that there are situations where one may provide additional insight over the other.
A shortwave trough brought strong, deep westerly winds to northern Colorado and an afternoon cold front on 14 October 2020. Analysis of GOES-East water vapor imagery reveals the shortwave dropping south through MT/WY and then east into the plains (Fig 1). The gusty winds and low RH along with continued dry fuels meant conditions were favorable for the rapid growth and spread of the Cameron Peak Wildfire, which had been burning for months in the mountains just west of Fort Collins.
Figure 1: 14-15 Oct 2020 GOES-East UL Water Vapor Imagery, RAP 500 mb Heights. Higher res
The dangerous fire weather conditions did indeed cause the wildfire to grow considerably during the day, becoming the largest wildfire in Colorado recorded history at over 164,000 acres by early on the 15th, from 135,000 acres early on the 14th. The growth can be visualized in the fire information maps from Inciweb (Fig 2a). Evacuation zones expanded east to just west of Horsetooth Reservoir (Fig 2b).
Figure 2a: Cameron Peak Fire Information Maps from Inciweb from the morning of 10/14 (left) and morning of 10/15 (right). Higher resFigure 2b: Cameron Peak fire evacuation map on 10/15. Higher res
Both GOES-East and GOES-West satellite imagery captured the evolution of the wildfire hot spot and smoke plume throughout the day. Given the satellite viewing angles and resulting forward scattering, GOES-West VIS provided a clearer view of the smoke plume during the morning, with GOES-East VIS the better option during the afternoon (Fig 3). Given the thick plume, both sensors provided adequate detection.
Figure 3: 14 October 2020 GOES-East (top) and GOES-West (bottom) VIS. Higher res
Focusing on GOES-East, 1-min imagery was available over the wildfire during the day. Early morning Natural Color Fire RGB imagery revealed a lenticular cloud stationary over the fire location around sunrise, dissipating into the morning and revealing the large hot spot (Fig 4).
Figure 4: 14 October 2020 GOES-East 1-min Natural Color Fire RGB during early morning. Higher res
The Natural Color Fire RGB imagery allows one to characterize various aspects of the wildfire given the three components: hot spot (SWIR), smoke plume (VIS), and burn scar (Veggie). While a similar RGB (Day Land Cloud Fires) is available in AWIPS, this particular RGB, which better detects hot spots, is not (though it can be requested). An example scene from this wildfire is annotated in Fig 5.
Figure 5: 1758 UTC 14 October 2020 GOES-East Natural Color Fire RGB annotated. Higher res
Later in the day, the wildfire broke containment and spread rapidly to the east. This expansion is shown in a 2.5 hour period of GOES-East 1-min imagery in the Natural Color Fire RGB (Fig 6).
Figure 6: 14 October 2020 GOES-East 1-min Natural Color Fire RGB during period of rapid fire growth. Higher res
The full daytime evolution of the wildfire in the Natural Color Fire RGB is shown in Figure 7. A similar animation is shown for the Fire Temperature RGB, which can be used to diagnose relative “hot” areas within the broader hot spot of a mature wildfire (Fig 8).
Figure 7: 14 October 2020 GOES-East 5-min Natural Color Fire RGB during full day. Higher resFigure 8: 14 October 2020 GOES-East 5-min Fire Temperature RGB during full day. Higher res
The smoke was present at the surface across Fort Collins from the morning through the early afternoon. However, a surface backdoor cold front pushed west into the I-25 corridor by mid-afternoon, clearing the near-surface smoke and dramatically improving air quality. The smoke plume remained aloft, however, as was shown in Fig 9, confirming the low-level nature of the cold front. IR-Window imagery with a grayscale color table captures the southwest evolution of the cold front and it’s minimal influence on the smoke plume aloft as observed by from satellite.
Figure 9: 14 October 2020 GOES-East 5-min IR-Window, SWIR (for very hot BTs). Higher res
NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color Imagery and Active Fires Product around 2000 UTC (tail end of rapid spread east) provided a detailed view of both the smoke plume as well as the active fire burn area (Fig 10).
Figure 10: 14 October 2020 NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color Imagery, Active Fires product. From NASA Worldview. Higher res
The natural color fire RGB can also be applied to VIIRS imagery (Fig 11). By using I-band imagery, the product becomes much more detailed given the 375 m spatial resolution. In this case, there were three VIIRS images available within a ~1.5 hour period from SNPP and NOAA-20, allowing for an analysis of the fire growth during that period. Note missing hot spot data within the larger hot spot due to band I4 (swir) pixel saturation. Land surface features such as wildfires are much easier to analyze in time in VIIRS imagery since the implementation of Terrain Correction for VIIRS EDR’s.
Figure 11: 14 October 2020 VIIRS Natural Color Fire RGB. Higher Res
That evening, NOAA-20 VIIRS Day Night Band captured the glow associated with the Cameron Peak Fire, in addition to that from nearby city lights (Fig 13).
Figure 12: 15 October 2020 NOAA-20 VIIRS Day Night Band Near Constant Contrast. Higher res
Some photography of the fire smoke plume from Oct 14 follows:
Look at the dark contrast between Loveland and Fort Collins. 🙏🏾 Prayers up for the firefighters and the residents impacted by it. pic.twitter.com/R9N9OgqG4s
Very dry antecedent conditions and the passage of a cold front with strong post-frontal winds resulted in the development of a haboob and blowing dust across the southern plains during the evening of 11-12 Oct 2020. Images and videos from across the region captured the haboob as it progressed south and east across CO into KS/OK/TX during the evening.
One-minute GOES-East imagery captured the early evolution of the haboob along the cold front as it progressed south across southeast Colorado during the final hours of sunlight (Fig 1 and 2). The examples provide a comparison between a feature-relative and fixed region animations.
Figure 1: 11 Oct 2020 GOES-East 1-min VIS, feature-following zoom. Higher resFigure 2: 11 Oct 2020 GOES-East 1-min VIS. Higher res
Given the presence of patchy cloud cover atop the blowing dust, RGB imagery could be used to more easily differentiate/confirm areas of blowing dust (Fig 3 and 4).
Figure 3: 11 Oct 2020 GOES-East 1-min Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB imagery. Areas of blowing dust appear as light blue/cyan. Higher resFigure 4: 11 Oct 2020 GOES-East 1-min Dust-Fire RGB imagery. Areas of blowing dust appear as relatively brighter green. Higher res
Ten-min GOES-East imagery covering a broader region and longer period over the southern plains captured the full evolution of the cold front/haboob and region of blowing dust. IR window imagery with a custom grayscale colortable and range of -55C to 45C clearly highlights the temperature contrast ahead and behind the cold front (Fig 5).
Figure 5: 11-12 Oct 2020 GOES-East 10-min IR Window imagery. Higher res
Dust-Fire RGB imagery highlights areas of blowing dust, wildfire hot spots, and intense smoke plumes in the strong southwest flow ahead of the front, in addition to the cold front itself (Fig 6).
Figure 6: 11-12 Oct 2020 GOES-East 10-min Dust-Fire RGB imagery. Higher res
The following morning, a bore was diagnosed in visible imagery following passage of the cold front across southeast Texas (Fig 7).
Figure 7: 12 Oct 2020 GOES-East 5-min VIS imagery. Higher res
A long-lasting upper level ridge over the western US gave way to a relatively potent upper level trough on 07-08 Sep 2020, resulting in active weather across much of the western US. Over the Pacific Northwest, the system sent a cold front through the region resulting in very dry conditions with gusty winds during the day on the 7th. These conditions helped support the spread of large and fast moving wildfires, as well as widespread blowing dust emanating from freshly plowed fields. As a result, NWS Spokane, WA issued Wind Advisories, a Red Flag Warning and Blowing Dust Advisory for the area.
GOES-West 3.9 um shortwave IR imagery with a simple linear grayscale colortable captures the initial development and following rapid evolution of the wildfires well (Fig 1), while visible imagery reveals widespread opaqueness across the region (Fig 2). The visible texture and (warm) brightness temperature of the atmospheric aerosols (along with presence of wildfires) leads one to surmise that it is either smoke and/or lofted dust.
Combining the SWIR and VIS, it is revealed that some of the aerosols are anchored to hot spot locations, and are therefore likely smoke plumes, while others are originating from open fields with no hot spots, and are suspected regions of blowing dust (Fig 3).
Figure 3: 07 Sep 2020 GOES-West VIS and SWIR. Higher res
When we view the SWD (with SWIR hotspots overlay), a reliable method for capturing lofted dust given sensitivity of the 10.3 um band, much of the opaque region (smoke and dust) provides a signal typical of lofted dust (neg 10-12 um diff; dark gray to black in this example; Fig 4). There is typically little-to-no signal for smoke in this difference.
Figure 4: 07 Sep 2020 GOES-West SWD and SWIR. Higher res
As a result, the Fire Dust RGB, that combines IRW, SWIR, and SWD to capture hot spots and dust plumes, shows a similar signal between the lofted dust and active smoke plumes (Fig 5).
Figure 5: 07 Sep 2020 GOES-West Fire Dust RGB. Higher res
Viewing other wildfires in the west (Fig 6), there is a similar SWD signal for some of the most impressive smoke plumes that developed later in the day from the large/very active wildfires (Fig 7). Early day smoke across the area that is composed of much smaller particulates has a very weak to no signal in the SWD. The SWD signal apparent in the very active smoke plumes is likely associated with larger smoke particles (ash) being lofted high into the plume by the strong updraft generated by the wildfire. In the Washington case, the SWD signal is likely a brew of dust mixing with smoke and lofted ash.
Figure 6: 07 Sep 2020 GOES-West VIS and SWIR. Higher resFigure 7: 07 Sep 2020 GOES-West SWD and SWIR. Higher res
Back to Washington, an alternate and IR-only RGB that replaces the IRW (from the Fire Dust RGB) with the Cloud Top Phase difference appears to do a slightly better job at differentiating lofted dust (cyan) from the intense/active smoke plumes (bright green) due to absorption differences between the two channels from dust (small and uniformly shaped particles) to smoke/ash (varying sized particles; Fig 8).
Figure 8: 07 Sep 2020 GOES-West Fire Ash Dust RGB. Higher res
A zoomed out view of the same RGB over the whole western US during the day and following evening continues to separate the impressive smoke plumes from the blowing dust (Fig 9).
Figure 9: 07-08 Sep 2020 GOES-West Fire Ash Dust RGB. Higher res
Combining the VIS, SWIR and 0.86 um veggie band into a Fire Day RGB discussed in previous blog posts, the lofted smoke and dust become more obvious, and one can diagnose a slight difference between the most probable dust regions (greener cyan) and smoke plumes (bluer cyan), in addition to the hot spots (Fig 10). NWS Blowing Dust Warning polygons are overlaid on the imagery.
Figure 10: 07 Sep 2020 GOES-West Fire Day RGB. Higher res
GOES-West Geocolor Imagery also captures the smoke and dust well, with slight differences between the two aerosols discernible (Fig 11). GOES-East Geocolor also captures the plumes, particularly later in the day as forward scattering increases toward that satellite (Fig 12).
SNPP and NOAA-20 VIIRS Day Night Band NCC imagery captured the glow of the wildfires across Washington (Fig 13). The first few images in the animation are from the 6th, and show the scene (day and night) prior to fire ignition. During the overnight hours early on the 7th, the first large fire developed and was apparent in the series of VIIRS passes. The following day, the initial fire grows and others ignite, with smoke obvious in the imagery. During the overnight hours early on the 8th, the wildfires had grown considerably, and were depicted in the VIIRS DNB imagery. In particular, the perimeter of the wildfires, along with the most active areas, are captured well in the DNB imagery.
Figure 13: 06-08 SNPP and NOAA-20 VIIRS Day Night Band Near Constant Contrast Imagery. Higher res
Many images and video depicting the degree of visibility reduction by dust and smoke were shared on social media, some of which are included below.
Eastern Washington a jumbled mess of smoke and a dust storm amid widespread 40-45 mph winds. This video is from I-90 west of Moses Lake by Ashlee Winlow #wawxpic.twitter.com/myuIlcTvvZ
Hurricane Laura became a named tropical system in the Caribbean at 1500 UTC 21 Aug 2020, and a Hurricane at 1500 UTC 25 August 2020. According to the NHC very early on 27 Aug, “Laura made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, around 0600 UTC (1 am CDT) with maximum sustained winds of 130 kt, which is near the high end of category 4 status.” The following post includes a collection of GOES ABI imagery captured during the evolution of Laura.
The full evolution of Laura as a named storm through the day after landfall (21-27 Aug) is shown in Figures 1-3 as hourly GOES-East animations. Figure 1 includes 10.3 um IR window channel imagery, while Figure 2 transitions between 10.3 um IR window channel imagery during the night, and VIS-IR Sandwich imagery during the day. Figure 3 characterizes lightning activity during the life of the storm, utilizing GOES-East Flash Extent Density (note, only 5-min GLM FED was used).
Figure 1: 21-27 August 2020 GOES-East hourly IR. Higher ResFigure 2: 21-27 August 2020 GOES-East hourly IR and VIS-IR Sandwich Combo. Higher ResFigure 3: 21-27 August 2020 GOES-East hourly IR, GLM FED. Higher Res
A water vapor animation with RAP 500 mb wind and height analyses captures the influencing large scale features during the long trek of Laura. Notably, a broad ridge over the western Atlantic early in the period expands west into the southeast US and eastern GoM throughout the animation, helping to steer Laura west of the track of the preceding Marco, into the western GoM (Fig 4).
Figure 4: 21-27 August 2020 GOES-East hourly UL Water Vapor Imagery, RAP 500 mb height, wind analysis. Higher Res
A feature relative GOES-East VIS animation during the full day of the 25th depicts the strengthening of Laura from a Tropical Storm to a Hurricane (Fig 5).
Figure 5: 25 August 2020 GOES-East 5-min VIS. Higher Res
Zooming out for the same period, Laura is seen advancing into the central Gulf of Mexico, while remnants of Marco accelerates west along the Louisiana Gulf Coast (Fig 6).
Figure 6: 25 August 2020 GOES-East 5-min VIS. Higher Res
A mesoscale sector was available over Laura during it’s evolution, providing forecasters with valuable 1-min-updating imagery. The final 70 minutes of visible imagery on the 25th capture increasing thunderstorm activity around the center of circulation (Fig 7). One-minute imagery eases diagnosis of a center of circulation in tropical systems, particularly in unorganized storm systems. The evolution of individual convective updrafts associated with the tropical system are also more efficiently tracked in space and time using the high temporal resolution, low latency imagery.
Figure 7: 25 August 2020 GOES-East 1-min VIS. Higher Res
During the overnight hours of the 25h-26th, Laura continued to strengthen, with an eye becoming apparent by the early morning of the 26th per GOES-East IR imagery (Fig 8).
Figure 8: 25-26 August 2020 GOES-East 5-min IR. Higher Res
Sunrise over Laura on the 26th revealed a much better organized hurricane with a developing eye, albeit still contaminated with some cloud debris (Fig 9).
Figure 9: 26 August 2020 GOES-East 1-min VIS. Higher Res
A zoomed out view of the full mesoscale sector shows the massive storm approaching the coast (Fig 10). The IR-VIS sandwich combo imagery combines the high spatial detail of the VIS with the quantitative BT information from the IR.
Figure 10: 26 August 2020 GOES-East 1-min VIS-IR Sandwich Combo. Higher Res
By the late morning of the 26th, the eye had cleared considerably, and low and upper level vorticies could be diagnosed in the 1-min VIS with convective activity still becoming organized within the eyewall (Fig 11).
Figure 11: 26 August 2020 GOES-East 1-min VIS. Higher Res
During the afternoon, eye clearing had completed, convective activity became more consistent within the eyewall, and a healthy major hurricane was apparent (Fig 12).
Figure 12: 26 August 2020 GOES-East 1-min VIS. Higher Res
A clear eye and healthy eyewall were still apparent in 1-min visible imagery as sun set on the storm during the early evening of the 26th, jsut several hours prior to landfall (Fig 13).
Figure 13: 26 August 2020 GOES-East 1-min VIS. Higher Res
The full development of the impressive storm during the day of the 26th is diagnosed in GOES-East visible imagery (Fig 14).
Figure 14: 26 August 2020 GOES-East 5-min VIS. Higher Res
GOES-West provided a unique perspective of the hurricane on the 26th given the much larger viewing zenith angle compared to that of GOES-East (Fig 15).
Figure 15: 26 August 2020 GOES-West 10-min VIS. Higher Res
Landfall of Hurricane Laura in southwest Louisiana was displayed in GOES-East IR imagery during the overnight hours. Imagery shows the large eye remaining intact well inland, before filling in by early morning (Fig 16).
Figure 16: 26-27 August 2020 GOES-East 5-min IR. Higher Res
Figure 17 provides a zoomed in look at 2-min IR imagery during landfall, including surface obs.
Figure 17: 27 August 2020 GOES-East 2-min IR, surface obs. Higher res
GOES-East visible imagery after sunrise on the 27th shows the massive storm and lack of clear eye (Fig 18). The weakening tropical system filled most of the 1000 x 1000 km mesoscale sector.
Figure 18: 27 August 2020 GOES-East 1-min VIS. Higher Res
Finally, Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB imagery from the 27th shows convective activity and upper level clouds (reds and yellows) becoming detached from the low level circulation (cyan/blue clouds; Fig 19).
Figure 19: 27 August 2020 GOES-East 5-min Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB Imagery. Higher res
A long-lived line of severe thunderstorms resulted in a broad swath of damaging winds across the Midwest on 10 August 2020. There were hundreds of severe wind reports associated with this derecho, including dozens in excess of 75 mph (significant severe). GOES-East captured the evolution of the complex from initial thunderstorm development over Nebraska through convective decay over Ohio.
A long, 10-min IR animation captured the full evolution of the thunderstorm complex, from 0611 UTC with initial development of thunderstorms over Nebraska, through 0201 UTC with weakening over Ohio/Indiana (Fig 1). Persistent cold cloud tops of <60C were analyzed along the leading edge of the MCS and in association with the severe storms, with cloud tops as cold as -80C sampled in the GOES imagery. NWS convective warning polygons and Local Storm Reports are shown as an overlay on the imagery.
Figure 1: 10 August 2020 GOES-East 10-min IR, NWS convective warning polygons, LSRs. Higher res
Corresponding GLM Flash Extent Density imagery is shown in Figure 2, and is used to infer the locations of strongest updrafts, and updraft trends, within the broader complex. Periodic long flashes are also observed extending into the thunderstorm anvils, representing a lightning threat well away from the strong thunderstorms.
Figure 2: 10 August 2020 GOES-East 10-min IR and GLM FED, NWS convective warning polygons, LSRs. Higher res
Corresponding MRMS composite reflectivity is shown in Figure 3 for comparison, and aligns with the regions of notable/persistent GLM activity and coldest cloud tops.
Figure 3: 10 August 2020 GOES-East 10-min IR, MRMS Composite Reflectivity, NWS convective warning polygons, LSRs. Higher res
GOES-East VIS-IR Sandwich image combo (every 5-minutes) is shown as feature following zoom for the during the daytime of the 10th, following the derecho (Fig 4). The evolution of features within the thunderstorm line is made more apparent in the feature relative animation. The combination of texture in the VIS and brightness temperature information in the IR allows for easy diagnosis cloud top health and trends, including that of overshooting tops, gravity waves, overall texture, and above anvil cirrus plumes. Toward the end of the animation, cloud tops begin to warm, and texture becomes less abundant, indicating weakening convection.
Figure 4: 10 August 2020 GOES-East 5-min VIS-IR sandwich combo. Higher res
GOES-East mesoscale sectors were available over the region, providing 1-min imagery for forecasters (Fig 5 and 6). The high temporal resolution, low latency imagery allows forecasters to more effectively track individual updraft trends in real-time vs the 5-min imagery.
Figure 5: 10 August 2020 GOES-East 1-min VIS, NWS convective warning polygons, LSRs as derecho advances across eastern Iowa. Higher resFigure 6: 10 August 2020 GOES-East 1-min VIS as derecho advances across Chicago. Higher res
A long (5-hour) 1-min VIS-GLMFED Sandwich animation covers a period of some of the most intense thunderstorm wind gusts, and connects visual texture trends with lightning trends (Fig 7).
Figure 7: 10 August 2020 GOES-East 1-min VIS-GLM FED Sandwich. Higher res
