Some Uses of High-Resolution GOES Imagery in the Mesoscale Forecasting of Convection and Its Behavior

Abstract

The high-resolution satellite imagery presently available from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) gives us a unique view of convective activity. This paper addresses some of the mesoscale phenomena, revealed in both pictures from GOES and in movies made from those pictures, which are important in the initiation and maintenance of convection. Specific attention is given to the organization of convection into lines and the importance of those convective lines in subsequent thunderstorm formation. The place where two convective lines merge almost invariably marks the location of intense convective development; under the right conditions, that activity will be severe.