For comments and/or questions, please contact Roger Phillips at: phillips@cira.colostate.edu
The majority of the loops in this tutorial were created from satellite images taken every fifteen minutes, the
normal frequency with which GOES-8 and GOES-9 scan the continental U.S. On 31 May 1996, however, the
GOES-8 satellite was operated in a special scanning mode which allowed data over a portion of the U.S. (in
this case, the KS region) to be scanned at frequencies of up to one image every thirty seconds. The loop
shown here contains thirty-second interval imagery over the times from 2304:12 to 2311:16 UTC, which includes times
at which the Ness City, KS and Sheridan Lake, CO tornadoes were reported. The thunderstorms associated
with these tornadoes are in the storm in eastern CO and in the second storm from the right in KS. This was
the first time ever that imagery was taken once every thirty seconds over tornadic thunderstorms. Even at this rapid interval, much change can be seen in the cloud field from frame-to-frame, particularly at the thunderstorm tops. Try viewing the imagery at different speeds as you study this loop.
For comments and/or questions, please contact Roger Phillips at: phillips@cira.colostate.edu