New GOES-19 Weather Satellite Captures Intense Lightning Storms | NOAA

New GOES-19 Weather Satellite Captures Intense Lightning Storms | NOAA

The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) instrument, onboard NOAA’s new GOES-19 weather satellite, is now continuously observing lightning over the Western Hemisphere. GOES-19 was launched on June 25, 2024. GLM detects and maps total lightning—in-cloud, cloud-to-cloud, and cloud-to-ground—over the Americas and adjacent ocean regions. GLM offers insights beyond the presence of a lightning strike, revealing the spatial and temporal extent of lightning flashes. 

Recently, the GOES-19 GLM detected and monitored lightning activity in two extremely hazardous hurricanes. On Sept. 24, 2024, GLM observed widespread lightning as a cluster of thunderstorms in the western Caribbean Sea consolidated into Tropical Storm Helene. Continuous lightning in the outer rain bands was accompanied by occasional eyewall lightning, as Hurricane Helene rapidly intensified in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. 

Frequent lightning completely enveloped the eyewall as the storm intensified further on its final approach to the Florida coastline. Away from the storm center, GLM helped identify the most intense thunderstorms most likely to produce tornadoes.

Credits: NOAA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA), Lockheed Martin, CISESS - UMD

Duration: 2 minutes, 19 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 17, 2024

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