NSSL 4km WRF Simulated Satellite imagery

Advanced Baseline Imager bands 8 through 16 are available for the NSSL 4km WRF output.

In this example a 16 hour forecast of band 9 (6.95 um, top image) is compared with the current WV imagery (bottom image) depicting an upper low over the Northern Great Lakes. Band 9 correctly depicts the location and orientation of the upper low and the associated dry slot and cloud regions. Farther to the south over AR, TN, and MS, band 9 is slow in the evolution of a MCS. The various bands of the WRF would be beneficial to forecasters to assess the model evolution of the environment and aid the forecaster in the progression as well.

Mark Gehring NWS/MKX

Justin Sieglaff UW/CIMSS

Fog/Stratus California Coast

The GOES-W MVFR Fog Probability 4km does a fairly nice job assigning high MVFR probabilities to stratus and fog off the coast of CA but also depicts the clearer area over Channel Islands National Park. It does assign only low probabilities to the MVFR-IFR conditions along the coastline however. Could this possibly be due to a thinner depth to the stratus field, assuming it is actually thinner? Farther to the west beyond the various islands the Fog Probability shows an area of "no data" due to clear areas that are present and sct-bkn cloud cover versus the bkn-ovc cloud cover to the east.

Mark Gehring NWS/MKX
Justin Sieglaff UW/CIMSS