On 26 August two pyroCbs formed in Idaho. The first pyroCb was located at 45.5 N 115.2 W, and the second pyroCb at 45.4 N 116.1 W. GOES-15 detected the smoke plumes and pyroCb clouds, as well as the fire hot spots. Starting at 22:00 UTC on 26 August, the animation below shows visible (.63 μm) on the left and shortwave IR (3.9 μm) on the right (click image to play animation). In the shortwave IR images the red pixels indicate very hot IR brightness temperatures exhibited by the fire source region.
GOES-15 0.63 µm visible channel (left) and 3.9 µm shortwave IR channel images (right) (click to play animation)
In addition, using GOES-15 10.7 μm IR channel the cloud-top IR brightness temperature could be found. The animation below, starting at 22:00 UTC on 26 August, shows the brightness temperature for the first pyroCb is -48.3ºC around 01:45 UTC on 27 August (lime green color enhancement). For the second pyroCb the coldest cloud top brightness temperature was -50.2ºC around 03:00 UTC on 27 August (lime green color enhancement).
GOES-15 10.7 µm IR channel images (click to play animation)