Coldest cloud top on record
Ben Domensino, ThursdayDecember 12, 2019 - 13:40 EDT
Thecoldest cloud top temperature ever observed by a satellite has been recordedover the Pacific Ocean.
Satellitespassing over the western Pacific Ocean on thelast day of November captured high resolution images of Typhoon Kammuri.
At thetime, Kammuri was a category one typhoon located to the east of the Philippines,where it was generating powerful thunderstorms around its centre.
Numeroussatellites captured infrared images of the typhoon on the final day ofNovember, including Japan'sHimawari-8 geostationary satellite and the U.S. NOAA-20 polar orbitingsatellite.
Theinfrared images captured by these satellites revealed that temperatures at thetop of the towering thunderstorm clouds near Kammuri's centre were as low as-109.35ºC. This is the lowest cloud top temperature on record based onsatellite observations.
' v:shapes="_x0000_i1025">
Image:Himawari-8 infrared satellite image taken at 04:30 GMT on November 30th. Pinkshading shows cloud top temperatures below -80 degrees Celsius. The white areain the middle is the coldest cloud tops, where temperatures were below -100degrees. Source: NASA Worldview
Temperature readings taken by a weather balloon launched fromthe island of Palau on November 30th suggest that thealtitude of Kammuri's exceptionally cold cloud tops was likely to be around19.5km.
Thesetowering storms even produced 'cloud-top gravity waves' that could be seentravelling away from the thunderstorms on the top surface of Kammuri's broadcloud mass.
' v:shapes="_x0000_i1026">
Image:Himawari-8 visible satellite image showing cloud-top gravity waves travellingaway from thunderstorms near the centre of Typhoon Kammuri. Source: NASAWorldview
Back in 1990, Tropical Cyclone Hilda produced a cloud toptemperature of -102.2ºC to the east of Australia. This storm is alsolikely to have pushed well into the stratosphere, reaching an estimated heightof 19.2km above sea level.
Cloudtop heights are a useful indicator of a thunderstorm's behaviour. If the cloudtop height is increasing, it means the thunderstorm is still growing andgaining strength. If a cloud top is falling, it usually means the storm haspassed its peak and has begun to weaken. The height of the cloud top alsocorrelates with rainfall intensity, with higher tops causing heavier rain.
https://www.weatherzone.com.au
