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Articles by Scott Lindstrom
Nadine and Kristy
Nadine and Kristy Tropical Storm Nadine made landfall in Belize on 19 October (at 1600 UTC), and parts of this system then crossed Central America and entered the Pacific Ocean (NHC discussion that mentions this on 20 October before Noon). Tropical Storm Kristy formed off the coast of Mexico later in the day on the 21st of October. The GOES-16 animation of clean window infrared imagery, below, shows the cloud features associated with both systems.
Emilia and Fabio
Emilia and Fabio GOES-18 Clean Window infrared imagery, below, shows the development and evolution of Emilia and Fabio over the eastern Pacific Ocean (four named systems existed at one time in this animation; Emilia and Fabio are the two easternmost systems). The animation then shows the demise of Fabio (late on 7 August) as it moved over colder waters and then its remnants were absorbed into Emilia before the end of the animation. Categories: GOES-18, Tropical cyclones
Satellite comparisons of Beryl near Jamaica to Gilbert, Ivan, and Dean near (or over!) Jamaica
Satellite comparisons of Beryl near Jamaica to Gilbert, Ivan, and Dean near (or over!) Jamaica GOES-16 clean window infrared imagery, above, shows the evolution (at half-hourly intervals; in reality, 1-minute data was available of its passage, along with lightning) of Hurricane Beryl‘s cloud field as it moved just south of the island of Jamaica.
Hurricane Beryl moves through the Windward Islands
Hurricane Beryl moves through the Windward Islands GOES-16 Full-disk imagery, above, shows strong Hurricane Beryl moving through the windward islands on 1 July 2024. Beryl made her first landfall on Carriacou Island at 1510 UTC on 1 July. Of note is that the distinct eye of Beryl is lost between about 0800 and 1000 UTC as very strong convection develops over the southeastern quadrant of the storm.
VIIRS views Severe Clear over the Great Lakes
VIIRS views Severe Clear over the Great Lakes High Pressure over the Great Lakes on 25 April meant a spectacular true-color view of the 5 Great Lakes (apologies to Lake Champlain) by the VIIRS instruments . A similar view was recorded at 1755 UTC by Suomi-NPP, shown below. Clear skies also meant a determination of Lake Surface Temperatures, shown below (compare these to Monday, although note the scale here is 32 to 59oF v. 32 to 50oF on Monday).
The North American Total Eclipse of April 2024
The North American Total Eclipse of April 2024 Contributors: Scott Bachmeier, Mat Gunshor, Rick Kohrs, Margaret Mooney, Tim Schmit, and Eric Verbeten. Real-time animations of the Eclipse will be available at the website shown above, https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/datacenter/eclipse2024/ . Animations will include ABI and SUVI data.
[2403.07295] Tight error bounds for log-determinant cones without constraint qualifications
arXiv:2403.07295 (math) Download PDF HTML (experimental) Comments: Subjects: Optimization and Control (math.OC); Numerical Analysis (math.NA) MSC classes: 90C25, 52A20 Cite as: arXiv:2403.07295 [math.OC] (or arXiv:2403.07295v1 [math.OC] for this version) Submission history From: Bruno F.
The Little Cloud that Could - until it couldn’t
The Little Cloud that Could — until it couldn’t Imagery from the CSPP Geosphere site, above (), shows a curiously static low cloud (click here to see mp4 of cloud heights) separating from clouds along the southern shore of Lake Michigan and subsequently moving north. For several hours the cloud persists, until it moves under cirrus streaming in from the west, at which point it dissipates rapidly. The reason for its persistence and dissipation is left as an exercise for the reader.
Smokehouse Creek fire in north Texas
Smokehouse Creek fire in north Texas The Smokehouse Creek fire (inciweb link) as of sunrise 28 February is the 2nd largest fire in Texas history. VIIRS True-Color imagery above shows an extensive smoke plume (and a lot of other clouds!) over the eastern part of the north Texas Panhandle between 1830 and 2015 UTC on 27 February. Surface observations show very strong gusts from the west.
Early-February thunder (and tornados!) over the Upper Midwest
Early-February thunder (and tornados!) over the Upper Midwest The Storm Prediction Center placed portions of the upper Midwest United States in a marginal risk of severe weather on 8 February 2024 and issued two mesoscale discussion on the thunderstorm development, one at 2053 UTC, one at 2345 UTC. The graphic from the 2053 UTC MD is shown below. The animation above shows clean window infrared imagery overlain by the Level 2 product Lifted Index (LI) that gauges the stability in the atmosphere.
Large waves over the Central and South Pacific Ocean
Large waves over the Central and South Pacific Ocean Damaging waves hit the Marshall Islands on 19 January 2024, causing considerable damage, and the northern shores of American Samoa on 22 January 2024, leaving behind considerable debris, as shown below (photos courtesy NWS Pago Pago). The waves could be tracked using Altimetric data as viewed at this NOAA/NESDIS website; data for the globe and also data around the Marshall Islands were saved from that website and shown below.
Navigating The IRS Employee Retention Credit Voluntary Disclosure Program
On December 21, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") announced (IR-2023-247) a voluntary disclosure program ("VDP") for employers that received questionable employee retention tax credits ("ERTC"). Specifically, this new VDP seeks to assist these employers while providing them with an opportunity to voluntarily repay only eighty percent (80%) of the ERTC received and potentially avoid both penalties and interest, while being allowed to keep twenty percent (20%) of the ERTC received.
Wet weather in the Pacific Northwest
Wet weather in the Pacific Northwest Hourly GOES-18 Hemispheric views, above, from 2140 UTC on 1 December to 2040 UTC on 4 December, (from the ) show the development of a strong system in the Gulf of Alaska. This system is tapping into an airstream rich in moisture that augurs for a wet period along the Pacific Northwest coast. Flood watches and have been issued from western Washington and Oregon.
Kona Low developing over Hawai’i
Kona Low developing over Hawai’i Hourly GOES-West imagery from the CSPP Geosphere site, above (), shows the development of a broad Kona Low over the Hawai’ian islands. MIMIC Total Precipitable Water (TPW) fields over the eastern Pacific, below, show a very moist airmass moving into the eastern Hawai’ian islands as the Kona low develops to the west. The OSPO Percent of Normal fields at 1200 UTC on the 29th (here), show values >150% of normal throughout the Hawai’ian island chain.
SAR wind observations over Super Typhoon Bolaven
SAR wind observations over Super Typhoon Bolaven The RCM-1 (Radarsat Constellation Mission 1) satellite overflew STY Bolaven at 0840 UTC on 11 October. The Himawari-9 infrared (10.4 µm) presentation of the storm is excellent with a symmetric storm, distinct eye, and vigorous outer band convection. SAR winds show the strongest convection in the eastern half of the eyewall, where winds of 80 m/s (> 150 knots) are measured.
Don meanders around the North Atlantic
Don meanders around the North Atlantic The animation below, showing GOES-16 Clean Window infrared imagery (Band 13, 10.3 µm; processed using geo2grid, v1.1), tracks the named storm Don, first named as Subtropical Storm Don at 0900 UTC on 14 July, reclassified as Tropical Depression Don at 1500 UTC on the 17th, and upgraded to a Tropical Storm at 0300 UTC on the 18th, and to a hurricane at 2100 UTC on the 22nd.
MCS with Derecho moves through the central United States
MCS with Derecho moves through the central United States A long-lived mesoscale convective system (MCS) accompanied by strong winds at its leading edge, i.e., a Derecho, moved through the central US on 29 June 2023. The animation above shows GOES-16 Clean Window Infrared (10.3 µm) imagery at 15-minute intervals from 0100 UTC through 19 UTC on 29 June 2023.
CIMSS Satellite Blog
Super Typhoon Mawar Himawari-9 Infrared Imagery, above, shows Mawar as it develops and eye and strenghtens to Super Typhoon status. The animation above shows a well-developed symmetric storm with good outflow from all quadrants. The eye is seemingly in steady state from about 0300-0900 UTC, after which time its size shrinks. The 0600 UTC update from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center reported a central pressure near 923 mb.
Bore features in the Day Night Band over Minnesota and Iowa
Bore features in the Day Night Band over Minnesota and Iowa Much of the mid-Mississippi River valley was placed under a Moderate Risk of severe weather by the Storm Prediction Center on 31 March 2023. Day Night Band imagery from NOAA-20 (mislabeled as Suomi NPP), above, shows two bore-like features with very different orientations (there is also a notable lightning feature over eastern South Dakota!).
More SAR data over Cyclone Freddy, and parallax
More SAR data over Cyclone Freddy, and parallax RADARSAT and RCM1 had two closely-spaced overpasses over Cyclone Freddy in the Indian Ocean early on 16 February 2023, as shown above. Eyewall speeds exceed 130 knots in the RCM1 data! (Data are available here). The quadrant analyses for RCM1 and for RADARSAT-2 show hurricane-force winds extending out about 40 nmi from the storm center. The toggle below shows 0000 UTC Himawari-9 clean window imagery overlain with the 0004 UTC RADARSAT-2 SAR Winds.
The moving shadow of Mt. Shasta
The moving shadow of Mt. Shasta Northern California enjoyed a clear day on 23 January, and the animation above, from the , (click for a direct — but not permanent — link to the animation) shows the shadow of Mount Shasta (see the still image below identifying both the mountain and the shadow) shortening over the course of the morning. Note that clouds are also present around the mountain peak as well, although this webcam screen capture from 2100 UTC (source) shows only clear skies.
NOAA-20 detection of flooding over California
NOAA-20 detection of flooding over California The Community Software Processing Package (CSPP) includes Flood Detection algorithms that can be applied to VIIRS data at Direct Broadcast sites (such as at CIMSS). The daytime NOAA-20 orbit over California on 22 January 2023 overflew mostly clear skies, resulting in the True Color and False Color imagery shown above, and the diagnosed regions of floods, mainly in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins.
CIMSS Satellite Blog
There GOES a Review of 2022 It’s very hard to choose just one event from every month of the year, but the goal is to show the range of phenomena and locations that NOAA‘s GOES ABI routinely monitors, in this case during 2022. Most loops generated are from the University of Wisconsin-Madison CIMSS Satellite Blog, which...
NOAA-21 First Light imagery via Direct Broadcast
NOAA-21 First Light imagery via Direct Broadcast The VIIRS (Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument on-board NOAA-21 (launched in November 2022) is now sending data to Earth. (Here is the NOAA Satellite Tweet announcing this landmark occasion!). Direct Broadcast users can also view NOAA-21 data now; the image above was downloaded and processed using the latest Community Satellite Processing Package (CSPP) at CIMSS.
Sulfur Dioxide emissions from Mauna Loa
Sulfur Dioxide emissions from Mauna Loa One of the gases emitted from the Mauna Loa eruption is SO2. The 0223 UTC 30 November update from this site notes that emission rates of approximately 250,000 tonnes [sic] per day were measured on 28 November! What satellite products can be used to diagnose this gas qualitatively and quantitatively? There is an SO2 RGB created with GOES-R channels, so GOES-17 and GOES-18 are available to monitor SO2 qualitatively.
Eruption of Mauna Loa on Hawai’i
Eruption of Mauna Loa on Hawai’i Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawai’i became active overnight, ending a quiescent phase that started back in 1984 — the longest period of dormancy for this Volcano since the 1800s. The Ash Probability animation above, combining both GOES-17 PACUS and GOES-17 Full Disk imagery (using imagery from ) shows the Ash Cloud from this eruption moving northeastward from Hawai’i into the Pacific Ocean. The hot spot of the caldera is also apparent in the imagery.
Water changes over the Gulf of Mexico from Ian
Water changes over the Gulf of Mexico from Ian September 30th, 2022 | Scott Lindstrom True-color imagery from the Aqua MODIS instrument (above), taken from the MODIS Today website, shows the dramatic changes (between 25 September and 30 September) in turbidity and water quality off the southwestern coast of Florida that were caused by the winds and rains of Hurricane Ian.
CIMSS Satellite Blog
Shortly after midnight (EST) on December 1st, GOES-10 was decomissioned and boosted to a disposal orbit (approximately 300 km above the operational orbit). It was shut off because it lacks fuel for the required maneuvers to keep it on station. GOES-K was launched 25 April 1997, with a life expectancy of five years.
Bore features over Lake Michigan
The true-color animation above, produced from the CSPP Geosphere site, shows bore-like cloud features over northern Lake Michigan shortly after sunrise on 20 May 2022. These parallel lines of clouds are mostly likely to persist in regions where a low-level inversion is present. NUCAPS profiles from the 0800 UTC overpass of NOAA-20, shown below, show an inversion below 850 mb over the central parts of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
NUCAPS Profiles before an historic snow in Portland Oregon
NUCAPS Profiles before an historic snow in Portland Oregon April 11th, 2022 | Scott Lindstrom GOES-16 Band 13 infrared (10.3 ┬Ám) imagery, 0941-1346 UTC on 11 April 2022 (Click to enlarge) April 11 2022 saw the first measurable snowfall ever in April at the Portland OR airport (WFO Portland Tweet), where records have been kept since 1940. The GOES-16 animation above shows the weather system responsible for the weather.
GOES-16 views of snow squalls associated with a multi-vehicle fatal crash in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
GOES-16 views of snow squalls associated with a multi-vehicle fatal crash in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania March 28th, 2022 | Scott Lindstrom GOES-16 Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB over Schuylkill County, 1401-1501 UTC on 28 March 2022 (Click to enlarge) A 50- to 60-vehicle crash over central Schuylkill County (in Pennsylvania), with fatalities, on north-bound Interstate 81 occurred at around 11 AM EDT (TV news report; radio report), which is 1500 UTC.
Transitory Solar Reflectance in GOES-R Series Imagery
GOES-16 Visible (0.64 µm) animation, 1637-1732 UTC on 5 March 2018 (Click to enlarge) Animations of GOES-16 Visible, near-Infrared and shortwave Infrared over North America shortly before the Vernal Equinox, and shortly after the Autumnal Equinox, (that is, when the Sun is overhead in the Southern Hemisphere) show bright spots that propagate quickly from west to east (these features were first noted by Frank Alsheimer of the National Weather Service).
Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River
Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River March 13th, 2022 | Scott Lindstrom I01 (0.64 µm) and I03 (1.61 µm) bands from Suomi NPP, 1805 UTC on 13 March 2022 (Click to enlarge) Clear skies over the upper Midwest allowed an unobstructed view of the surface for VIIRS instrument on NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP. An ice-free Lake Michigan is apparent.
Tracking a ship through the ice of Lake Erie
Tracking a ship through the ice of Lake Erie February 14th, 2022 | Scott Lindstrom GOES-16 Band 2 Visible (0.64) imagery, 1421 – 1736 UTC on 14 February 2022 (Click to enlarge) The sharp eye of Rick DiMaio notes a change in Lake Erie ice coverage from a port in Ontario and then around Long Point. Information from this website suggests this is the tanker Algonorth! Follow this ship today at your favorite website that shows GOES-16 animations! For example: ; CIRA Slider.
GOES-14 in SRSO-R Scanning
GOES-14 in SRSO-R Scanning May 18th, 2015 | Scott Lindstrom GOES-14 0.62 µm visible imagery [click to play animation] GOES-14 is producing imagery at 1-minute intervals as part of Super-Rapid Scan Operations for GOES-R (SRSO-R). Sectors that are scanned change each day and are determined by likely weather events. The animation above, in the southwest corner of the Monday May 18 sector shows strong convection over northern Louisiana.
Hunga Tonga erupts again
Hunga Tonga erupts again January 13th, 2022 | Scott Lindstrom GOES-17 imagery revealed another explosive eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha?apai in the south Pacific Ocean between 1500 and 1530 UTC on 13 January 2022; an eruption in December 2021 is discussed here. The brightness temperatures in this volcanic plume cooled from -9.4o to -66.7o between 1520 and 1530 UTC.
Lake Effect snow over Chicago
Lake Effect snow over Chicago January 28th, 2022 | Scott Lindstrom GOES-16 Nighttime Microphysics with and without radar at 0641 UTC on 28 January 2022 (Click to enlarge) Lake Effect snow moved over Chicago on 28 January 2022. Along-lake winds, as shown below in scatterometry from this site, produced a single snow band that released on Chicago. The image above shows Nighttime microphysics with and without radar displayed.
NUCAPS sounding associated with strong winds over the central United States
NUCAPS Sounding Availability, 1750 and 1932 UTC on 15 December 2021 (Click to enlarge) NOAA-20 overflew the central United States twice in the afternoon of 15 December 2021 (NOAA-20 orbits that day shown here, from ) as a potent weather system moved through. SPC‘s Convective Outlook showed a Moderate Risk of severe weather (link); There was widespread wind damage on this day (link).
Antecedent lake-effect snow conditions over the Great Lakes
Antecedent lake-effect snow conditions over the Great Lakes November 12th, 2021 | Scott Lindstrom ACSPO SSTs from NOAA-20 VIIRS Imagery, 0739 UTC on 10 November 2021 (Click to enlarge) Clear skies in the early morning of 10 November 2021 allowed mapping of lake surface temperatures (LSTs) over the Great Lakes using the Advanced Clear-Sky Processor for Oceans (ACSPO) algorithm with VIIRS data acquired at the direct broadcast site at CIMSS.
Tropical Storm Wanda
Tropical Storm Wanda November 2nd, 2021 | Scott Lindstrom GOES-16 Band 2 Visible (0.64) Imagery, 1250 -1740 UTC on 2 November 2021 CSPP GeoSphere imagery, above, (click for a direct link to the animation above in CSPP Geosphere; it will remain there for about 2 weeks before the data are overwritten) shows the evolution of Tropical Storm Wanda on 2 November 2021. Convection developed near the storm center and wrapped about halfway around the center. Dry air is also affecting this storm.
Day Night Band imagery after Ida
Day Night Band imagery after Ida August 30th, 2021 | Scott Lindstrom Suomi NPP (0740 UTC) and NOAA-20 (0830 UTC) VIIRS Day Night Band visible (0.7 µm) imagery on 30 August 2021 (Click to enlarge) Day Night Band imagery from the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radio-Spectrometer) instrument on Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 allows satellite-borne estimates of power outages after strong storms.
Moist air over the tropical western Pacific Ocean
Moist air over the tropical western Pacific Ocean July 22nd, 2021 | Scott Lindstrom MIMIC Total Precipitable Water, 0000 UTC 21 July – 1200 UTC 22 July Microwave estimates of total precipitable water over the western Pacific Ocean (available here) show a moist airmass — out of which Typhoon In-Fa (seen near Taiwan in the animation) emerged — over the western Pacific Ocean.
Tropical Storm Bill in the Atlantic Ocean
Tropical Storm Bill in the Atlantic Ocean June 15th, 2021 | Scott Lindstrom GOES-16 True-Color imagery showing Tropical Depression #2 over the western Atlantic Ocean, 2001 – 2331 UTC on 14 June 2021 (Click to animate) True-color imagery derived from GOES-16, above, shows a low-level cyclonic circulation associated with then Tropical Depression #2 to the east of Cape Hatteras over the western Tropical Atlantic.
Protocol changes to the CIMSS Direct Broadcast ftp website
Protocol changes to the CIMSS Direct Broadcast ftp website April 27th, 2021 | Scott Lindstrom VIIRS True Color imagery and VIIRS M12 and M13 (3.7 µm and 4.05 µm) infrared imagery, 1716 UTC on 27 April 2021 (Click to enlarge) There have been recent changes to web browsers with a result that ftp:// protocols are only rarely supported (and that can be with difficulty). Accordingly, ftp access to UW-Madison CIMSS Direct Broadcast imagery has been altered so that https:// protocols can be used.
Tropical Depression over the western Pacific
Tropical Depression over the western Pacific April 13th, 2021 | Scott Lindstrom Himwari-8 Clean Window (10.41 µm) Band 13 Infrared imagery, 1220 – 2050 UTC on 13 April 2021 (Click to animate) Himawari-8 Window Channel infrared imagery (10.41 µm), above, shows a well-defined tropical disturbance (Tropical Depression #2, if named it will become Surigae) moving between Yap and Palau in the western Pacific to the southwest of Guam.
CSPPGeosphere views of the Soufriere Eruption on 11 April 2021
CSPPGeosphere views of the Soufriere Eruption on 11 April 2021 April 11th, 2021 | Scott Lindstrom GOES-16 True Color Imagery, 1210-1600 UTC on 11 April 2021 (click to animate) CSPPGeosphere allows a user to view True Color imagery (and individual GOES-16 bands) in real time using data from the four GOES-16 domains: Full Disk, CONUS, and Mesoscale Sectors 1 and 2.
Winter over the Great Lakes as viewed by VIIRS
Winter over the Great Lakes as viewed by VIIRS February 3rd, 2021 | Scott Lindstrom NOAA-20 VIIRS True-Color imagery over the Great Lakes, 1809 UTC on 3 February 2021 (Click to enlarge) A rare, mostly clear day over the Great Lakes (and favorable orbital geometry) allowed NOAA-20, above, and Suomi-NPP, below, to image all 5 Great Lakes in one scene.
Daily VIIRS True-Color images from NOAA-20 for the Great Lakes in November 2020
Daily VIIRS True-Color images from NOAA-20 for the Great Lakes in November 2020 December 1st, 2020 | Scott Lindstrom Daily true-color images from NOAA-20 VIIRS over Lake Erie, 1-30 November 2020 (Click to animate) CIMSS provides sectorized VIIRS true-color imagery for each of the five Great Lakes, and for the entire Great Lakes basin at the Direct Broadcast ftp site (ftp://ftp.ssec.wisc.edu/pub/eosdb/j01/viirs/ and ftp://ftp.ssec.wisc.edu/pub/eosdb/npp/viirs for NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP,...
Mesoscale snowband effects on temperature in Kansas
Mesoscale snowband effects on temperature in Kansas November 25th, 2020 | Scott Lindstrom Day Snow Fog RGB, 1421 – 1926 UTC on 25 November 2020 (Click to animate) An extratropical cyclone deposited a mesoscale snowband — a few counties wide — in south-central Kansas late in the day on 24 November 2020 (Click here to see the storm at 0300 UTC on 25 November). As is often the case, such bands have profound impacts on surface temperatures. It is therefore important to monitor their precise location.
CIMSS Satellite Blog
The third named storm of the Eastern Pacific tropical season has formed. (Click here for NHC‘s public advisory on the naming of Calvin) The mp4 animation above (click here for an animated gif) shows the evolution of the system for the 24 hours ending at 1210 UTC on 12 July as it gradually acquired rotation, evolving from a large convective complex at the start of the animation while it traveled over very warm waters.
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