Satellite snapshot: Severe storms hit Houston

Phenomena: Lightning, severe thunderstorms, wind

Satellite: GOES-16 (GOES East)

Product: Visible images/Geostationary Lightning Mapper

Time: May 16, 2024 10:00 p.m. UTC – May 17, 2024 12:45 a.m. UTC

As severe thunderstorms raged across southeast Texas, NOAA’s GOES East captured the storms from above in this visible imagery, which also shows frequent brightening observed with the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) instrument ) of the satellite.

The storms brought wind gusts as strong as the force of a hurricane that swept through metro Houston, blowing out windows of downtown skyscrapers and toppling transmission towers. At least four people were killed and nearly a million homes and businesses were left without power Friday morning, from Texas to Louisiana. The National Weather Service also issued a flood warning for the Houston area due to heavy rain associated with the storm.

The GOES East geostationary satellite, also known as GOES-16, monitors most of North America, including the contiguous United States and Mexico, as well as Central and South America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean to the west coast of Africa. . The satellite’s high-resolution images provide optimal visualization of extreme weather events, including thunderstorms, tropical storms and hurricanes.