Three Dimensional Clouds

GOES 16 Visible Satellite Image courtesy of NOAA 1401Z 10-31-19 (9:01 a.m. CDT)

There is much to appreciate about this satellite image. Let’s look from right to left. First notice the shadows that are being cast to the west of each cloud layer. Where ever there is a cloud that is higher than the clouds to the west you will see shadows cast on the lower clouds. The shadows bring out the texture in the cloud tops.

The white in eastern Kansas, Missouri, and south central Iowa is snow on the ground. Notice the rivers and lakes showing through the snow. In Iowa a thick higher cloud layer covers the eastern part of the state. Its western edge is casting a shadow on a smooth lower stratus cloud layer to the west. In the meantime, western Minnesota, western Iowa, western Missouri, most of Oklahoma, all of Kansas and Nebraska, most of South Dakota and all but northwestern North Dakota are sunny. The stratus layer extends into eastern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Upper Michigan and Ontario. Look closely and you will see other clouds over Kansas, southern Nebraska, and central South Dakota and eastern North Dakota. As the Sun rises those clouds will become more visible.

By the way, what you don’t see is a lower cloud layer over eastern Iowa eastward which is covered by a higher cloud layer.

Weather Depiction 1400Z (9:00 a.m. CDT) 10-31-2019. Map plotted by Digital Atmosphere available from www.Weathergraphics.com.

The map plot above is a weather depiction chart. It shows the weather station location (a circle or a box), cloud cover (how much the circle or box is filled), current weather (asterisks or dots for snow and rain, and cloud ceilings). For example, a plot that includes C14 indicates a ceiling of 14 hundred feet. Just mentally include two zeros after the 14 which gives you 1400 feet. This is a simplified version of the full station model plot that is explained on this website. On this map, Chicago reports light snow, Iowa City has light snow, light rain is falling at St Louis, and moderate rain is reported at Fort Wayne, Indiana. Notice the clear circles and boxes to the west. In those areas the observation plot indicates either clear or fair skies.

Compare the data plot with the satellite image and you get a more complete picture of the cloud cover. The satellite image shows shows high clouds and lower layers but the first opaque cloud layer obscures what is below. The weather observations show the lowest opaque cloud layer but no layers above it.