11th Conference on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography

Tuesday, 16 October 2001
A Satellite Perspective of the Pine Lake, Alberta Tornado Event
A. Scott Bachmeier, CIMSS/Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; and J. P. Nelson III
Poster PDF (420.8 kB)
On 14 July 2000, a tornado near Pine Lake, Alberta produced F3 damage and was responsible for 12 fatalities. Several interesting storm details are evident on rapid-scan imagery of this event from GOES-8, GOES-10, and GOES-11. InfraRed (IR) satellite imagery from GOES-10, GOES-11 and NOAA-12 revealed a well-defined "enhanced-v" cloud top signature up to 75 minutes prior to the tornado. The GOES-11 split-window IR difference product showed a low-level moisture boundary that likely played a role in the motion and intensity of the tornadic supercell. Total precipitable water derived from MODIS and NOAA-15 helped to define the moisture variability across the region in the pre-convective environment.

Supplementary URL: http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/misc/000714.html