NUCAPS Cross-Section Shows Cold Front

We learned today that we are able to look cross sections of NUCAPS data. With a cold front moving through the midwest toward the Ohio Valley today, we took a look at the 19Z NUCAPS data from the Suomi-NPP satellite pass. Below is a cross section of equivalent potential temperature (Theta E) running from northern Florida up through central Kansas.

In this image, Florida is to the right and Kansas is to the left. Based on METAR observations, the cold front was oriented over central Missouri and Arkansas at 19Z. The cold front appears to be approximately 600 km from western-most point of the cross-section.  Lower theta-E values can been at the lower levels west of this point, with the isotherms sloping upward from east to west on the cool side of the frontal boundary. This is a cool way to visualize the location and structure of a frontal boundary! -JP