VISIT: Meteorological Interpretation Blog

During mid-April 2024, unprecedented flooding occurred in the Middle East, specifically in the countries of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman. Over the course of a few days, a series of storms produced significant precipitation totals that pummeled the region, which led to extensive flooding that shut down schools, grounded or diverted flights, and Continue Reading

Lewis Grasso1, Dan Bikos1, Jorel Torres1, John Forsythe1, Heather Q. Cronk1, Curtis J. Seaman1, Emily Berndt2 1Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 2NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center, Huntsville, AL In the afternoon of 16 February 2020 a dust layer moved off western Continue Reading

A snow event in southwest Kansas on 28/29 January 2020 led to widespread snow amounts of 4 to 8 inches, with locally higher amounts (above 12″).  On the 29th, a thin layer of fog developed over the snow covered land.  Inspect the GOES-16 imagery: http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/templates/loop_directory.asp?data_folder=training/visit/loops/29jan20/4panel&loop_speed_ms=60 Upper left: Visible (0.64 micron) band Upper right: CIRA Snow Continue Reading

During the overnight hours of 21 October 2019, we analyze multiple applications of GOES imagery at night. First, we look over the northeast where fog developed.  Here is the GOES-16 nighttime microphysics product: http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/templates/loop_directory.asp?data_folder=training/visit/loops/21Oct19/fog&loop_speed_ms=60 We observe large areas of fog (dull aqua) or low clouds (aqua) in Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.  Continue Reading

By Louie Grasso and Dan Bikos On the day of 17 April 2019 observations indicated a significant upper-level trough over the southwest portions of the US.  As is typical with this type of synoptic setup, southwesterly flow ahead of the trough existed over northern Mexico extending northeastward into Texas.  In addition, this synoptic setup is Continue Reading

Satellite fog monitoring during the nighttime can be a challenge since geostationary datasets are limited to infrared imagery. However, with the new GOES-16/17 and JPSS datasets users can employ polar-orbiting and geostationary imagery to identify and monitor areas of fog and low stratus (a.k.a liquid water clouds). As meteorologists, we know that fog can significantly Continue Reading

During the overnight hours of 25 February 2019, low clouds and fog developed over portions of northwest Kansas, eastern Colorado and southwest Nebraska.  The low cloud and fog developed over a field of snow on the ground from a recent blizzard.  Low cloud and fog on top of snow on the ground can be difficult Continue Reading

Popocatépetl Volcano erupted overnight, spewing volcanic ash emissions, from 0200-1600UTC, 15 February 2019. Geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites observed this atmospheric phenomenon from 00-16 UTC, 15 February 2019. GOES-16 3.9um  A hot spot (i.e. white, warm brightness temperature) is produced from the volcanic eruption, along with its ash plume (i.e. elongated, cooler, black, brightness temperatures). Notice Continue Reading

On 4 February a shortwave tracked across the Upper Great Lakes towards the east, ahead of the shortwave, anomalously high moisture at low to mid-levels existed which contributed to a historic ice storm for the region. The NWS forecast office in Marquette, MI has a great web-page summarizing this event including pictures and the meteorological Continue Reading

As Winter Storm Harper passed through the northeast United States, the storm brought heavy precipitation in the forms of snow, rain, and freezing rain that produced significant ice accumulation on the ground. Storm total snowfall, rainfall and ice accumulations were observed in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Specifically snow and ice accumulations ranged from 1-11 Continue Reading