Author Archives: Ed_Szoke

Different ways to see snow with GOES-16 imagery & RGBs – by Ed Szoke & Dan Bikos

This has not been a particularly snowy winter in New England and the Northeast, with a number of rain events during the season.  So naturally, now that “winter” is officially over a snowstorm hit much of the area on Monday … Continue reading

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Can GLM Total Lightning help with warning for non-supercell (landspout) tornadoes? A case from Iowa on 29 May 2019.

by Ed Szoke and Dan Bikos Total lightning (in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning) is available to forecasters from the Global Lightning Mapper (GLM) onboard GOES-16 and GOES-17.  Unlike cloud-to-ground lightning, the amount of in-cloud lightning is related to updraft strength, and … Continue reading

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Dry…but not THAT dry!

The GOES-16 water vapor imagery for all 3 channels showed a narrow band of very warm brightness temperatures (implying sinking air and a dry atmosphere) on Friday morning (1502 UTC) 9 Feb 2018. This narrow zone of sinking air is … Continue reading

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Lots of smoke moving south – a comparison of GeoColor with other bands for smoke visualization on 1 Aug 2017

The GOES-16 data posted on this page are preliminary, non-operational data and are undergoing testing.  Users bear all responsibility for inspecting the data prior to use and for the manner in which the data are utilized. Fires have been burning … Continue reading

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A look at water vapor imagery from GOES-16

The GOES-16 data posted on this page are preliminary, non-operational data and are undergoing testing.  Users bear all responsibility for inspecting the data prior to use and for the manner in which the data are utilized. By Ed Szoke and … Continue reading

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Potential challenges of interpreting water vapor imagery: A tropical moisture case over San Diego on 21 Sep 2016

While water vapor imagery is no doubt very useful for forecasting, it can at times be tricky to interpret.  This blog discusses a particularly challenging case over Southern California on 21 September 2016, when deep tropical moisture produced a rain event … Continue reading

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Challenging forecast for Colorado mountains snow event of 5 December 2016

On 5 December 2016, a significant storm was approaching the mountains of Colorado with various NWS winter weather watches/warnings posted for 6 December.  This snow event on 5 December occurred ahead of the storm in what looked like drying conditions … Continue reading

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More dust – this time amidst the clouds – 29 April 2014 case

A recent post took a look at the CIRA dust products for the widespread blowing dust event across the Southern Plains behind a strong cold front on 27 April.  The associated upper-level trough moved into the middle of the nation … Continue reading

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April 27 – Severe weather followed by blowing dust across the Plains

The extensive outbreak of severe weather on Sunday 27 April (see SPC plot of reports below in Figure 1) made headlines with many destructive tornadoes.  A strong cold front associated with an intense low lifting out of the Rockies led … Continue reading

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An even stronger cold front and even more blowing dust – 18 March 2014

In a recent post we showed a dust storm that moved through southeast Colorado and into the Texas Panhandle on 11 March with a strong cold front.  Another cold front, even a bit stronger than the one last week, pushed … Continue reading

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