Silver Fire in southwestern New Mexico

GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel images (click image to play animation)

GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel images (click image to play animation)

The Silver Fire continued to burn in southwestern New Mexico on 13 June 2013. GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel images (above; click image to play animation) showed the development of a well-defined pyrocumulonimbus cloud, which then began to merge with orographic cumulonimbus clouds which were building to the west of the fire.

POES AVHRR Cloud Top Height product

POES AVHRR Cloud Top Height product

An overpass of the POES (NOAA-19) satellite around 19:51 UTC showed that the AVHRR-derived Cloud Top Height of the pyrocb was in in the 11-12 km range, compared to maximum cloud top heights of 13-14 km with the orographic Cb clouds just to the west (above). The corresponding AVHRR Cloud Top Temperature (CTT) product (below) indicated that the CTT values of the pyroCb cloud were generally in the -45 C to -50 C range, compared to the minimum CTT value of -65 C associated with the more vigorous adjacent Cb clouds.

POES AVHRR Cloud Top Temperature product

POES AVHRR Cloud Top Temperature product

 

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