US: An animation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's GOES-East satellite data shows the development and movement of the weather system that spawned tornadoes affecting the southern and eastern US states on April 27-29. NASA's Aqua satellite captured infrared data on the system that revealed powerful storms, high into the troposphere.
To create the video and imagery, NASA/NOAA's GOES Project took the cloud data from NOAA's GOES-East satellite and overlaid it on a true-color image of land and ocean created by data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites.
Coupled with local weather observations, soundings, and computer models, data from satellites like NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite or GOES-East (also known as GOES-13) gives forecasters information about developing weather situations. In real-time, the NOAA's GOES-East satellite data in animated form showed forecasters how the area of severe weather was developing and moving.
NOAA's GOES-East satellite sits in a fixed orbit in space capturing visible and infrared imagery of weather over the eastern U.S. and Atlantic Ocean.
A dangerous storm system that spawned a chain of deadly tornadoes over three days flattened homes and businesses, killing at least 35 and forcing frightened residents in more than half a dozen states to take cover and left tens of thousands in the dark.
Source: NASA
