CIMSS Satellite Blog

NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Medicane “Zorbas” (as named by Freie Universität Berlin) developed in the Mediterranean Sea late in the day on 27 September 2018 — a toggle between VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP (above; courtesy of William Straka, CIMSS) revealed the well-defined circulation of the storm a few hours after Midnight local time on 28 September (the corresponding VIIRS Infrared images are available here). Note the bright streak north of the storm center on the NOAA-20 image — this was an area of clouds illuminated by intense lightning activity. Other less prominent lightning streaks were evident in thunderstorms over the far eastern Mediterranean Sea. On the Suomi NPP image, a small bright spot can be seen due to minor volcanic activity at Mount Etna on the island of Sicily, as well as the hazy signature of a plume of blowing dust/sand that was moving northward off the coast of Libya.

During the following daylight hours of 28 September, EUMETSAT Meteosat-11 High Resolution Visible (0.8 µm) images (below) showed the storm as it became better organized and increased intensity (00 UTC 29 September surface analysis). Another dense plume of blowing dust/sand began to move off the coast of Libya late in the day.

Meteosat-11 Visible (0.8 µm) images, with hourly plots of wind barbs (yellow) and wind gusts (red) [click to play animation | MP4]

A sequence of Terra and Aqua MODIS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images from 28 and 29 September viewed using RealEarth (below) showed the Medicane moving inland along the Peloponnese coast of southern Greece on 29 September — winds gusted to 48 knots at Kalamata at 1220 UTC while a heavy thunderstorm was occurring. Sea Surface Temperatures were near 25ºC in the central Mediterranean Sea where Zorbas was intensifying.

Terra/Aqua MODIS True Color RGB images on 28 and 29 September [click to enlarge]

Hourly images of the MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product (below) showed the moisture associated with the storm, which produced heavy rainfall and flash flooding in parts of Greece.

MIMIC morphed Total Precipitable Water images, 27-29 September [click to play animation | MP4]

from CIMSS Satellite Blog http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/archives/30048