Following GOES-R CI

I had the chance to follow-up with forecaster Hatzos on the use of the GOES-R CI from a couple posts earlier.  The operations were watching the Goodland and Dodge City, Kansas county warning areas as we continued to wait for storms to possibly fire up in eastern Colorado / western Kansas.  We had the chance to discuss how the GOES-R CI product was performing given the current environment. 

The image above is from 2015 UTC shows the GOES-R CI (upper left), IR imagery (upper right), and the Dodge City reflectivity (lower right).  Looking at the previous observations, the GOES-R CI has done a good job of identifying the small cells developing in western Kansas, as shown in the radar imagery.

The image above is now from 2030 UTC and continues to show GOES-R CI identifying initiation with moderate values.  I posed the question of what is the impression of these observations.  Overall, the GOES-R CI has done well identifying initiation.  In addition, the GOES-R CI values have been modest.  During the conversation, this gave the forecaster the opinion that explosive development is not to be expected just yet and that given the current conditions, the operations will focus on monitoring storm development.

- Geoffrey