Regional And Mesoscale Meteorology Team
Daily Satellite Discussion
Monday March 9, 1998
There were a few interesting features in the GOES-8 channel 1 (visible) and channel 2 (3.9 micrometers) on Monday March 9, 1998 over the upper midwest and Great Lakes region.
| Figure 1 | Figure 2 |
|---|---|
|
|
| GOES-8 channel 1, 9 March 1998 at 1846 | GOES-8 channel 2, 9 March 1998 at 1846 |
The visible imagery at 1846 UTC, Figure 1, shows little contrast between snow covered ground and clouds. The cold northerly flow produced cloud bands over central and southern portions of Lake Superior. One cannot tell, however, how far the bands extend south of the lake and if they were composed of liquid or ice.
Sharp contrast between bright liquid water clouds as shown in Figure 2, over
and south of Lake Superior, and dark ice clouds to the east
and south aids one in identifying the different cloud compostions and
to some degree the different heights at which they existed.
Note also the extensive liquid water cloud deck that covered much of
the Ohio valley topped by the darker upper level ice cloud deck. The 3.9 micrometer
image also aids one in identifying the western edge of the bright
low-level liquid water cloud deck and the grey snow covered ground
from extreme southeastern Iowa, northeast Missouri to southwest
Missouri. These features were not discernable in the visible image.
Compare the
reflectivity product and the
visible image.
Louie Grasso
