Day 4: Interesting simulated IR utility for icing

This afternoon at the icing desk our participants found a very interesting way to utilize the synthetic infrared imagery for their icing forecasts. Typically out on the operations floor the forecasters will look at real time IR satellite imagery, but will use an ice color curve. This enhancement highlights clouds with temperatures between 0 and -25 degrees C, the ideal threshold for icing conditions. On the icing desk this afternoon, the forecasters had the idea to apply this enhancement to the synthetic IR imagery and use it as an additional tool.

Shown below are two images of the 20130215 0000 UTC simulated IR imagery. The top image shows a typical simulated IR image, the color curve the same as that used in operations and on the bottom is the simulated IR image with the ice enhancement.

20130215 0000 UTC Synthetic IR forecast

20130215 0000 UTC Synthetic IR forecast with the ice color enhancement