A Closer Look at The Tops of Thunderstorms From Recent Louisiana Storms! (credit: UW-CIMSS)

DISCUSSION: In light of the recent severe weather event which impacted portions of the South-Central United States, there were many neat and insightful perspectives taken on this severe weather outbreak.  As shown in the animated higher-resolution satellite imagery attached above, there was a very complex evolution of these storms with respect to cloud-top temperatures.  This was a definite indication of rapid storm development and subsequent in-situ updraft evolution as they continue to push off to the northeast with time.  This animation compares GOES-16 (non-operational) 1 minute, 2 km IR imagery side-by-side with GOES-13 (operational) 15 minute, 4 km IR imagery of the April 2nd tornadic thunderstorms in Louisiana.  

As storms continued to evolve in character from the point at which they developed closer to the Gulf Coast region, the deep-layer rotation increased substantial which boosted the overall threat for rotating updrafts within intensifying storms.  This consequently increased the threat for tornadogenesis in association with several strong discrete storms which formed during the course of the late morning to late afternoon hours on Sunday.  To get more details on this recent severe weather event, be sure to click here!

To learn more about other neat topics in applied meteorology from around the world, be sure to click here!

©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz