NASA Aqua Satellite Captures Tornado Outbreak in Southern States

The massive storm outbreak that occurred in seven central and southern U.S. states on April 27 to 28 and which spawned tornadoes is now being looked at a bit more closely. The NASA Aqua satellite managed to capture temperature data on the thunderstorm cloud tops in the system, and made some unusual findings.

The satellite passed over the eastern U.S. in the morning on April 29 and gathered infrared data associated with the storms that were involved with the frontal system that created tornadoes on April 28. Then, a false-colored image of the storm system was created by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) using the data.

So what did the researchers find? The image reveals very cold cloud top temperatures. This shows that the thunderstorms had strong uplift that pushed cloud tops near the top of the troposphere. In fact, temperatures dropped to just under 220 degrees Kelvin at the top of the troposphere.

The tornado outbreak that occurred over the evening and overnight hours of April 28 to 29 is thought to have generated more tornadoes in northern Mississippi and Alabama. Currently, a low pressure system associated with the fronts is located over Iowa. A warm front extends east of the low bringing warm, moist air into the southeastern U.S. Current predictions forecast severe thunderstorms for parts of the Gulf Coast states this afternoon and tonight.

For updated information about the storm, visit the site here.

Want to see the development of the storm for yourself? Check out the animation of NOAA's GOESS-East satellite data below, courtesy of YouTube.