U.S. Satellite Cloud Climatology Now in its twelfth year, we have a quality controlled database of satellite images to which new data is continually added. This is the basis for a variety of special US projects.

CONUS Sector:• Images from GOES East and GOES West imager, 4 km resolution.

• Includes every hour during day for visible channel; every other hour for channels 2-6

• Products includes min, max and average for all imager channels, plus cloud percent from channel 1 (visible) and channel 4 (10.7 μm).

Wind Regime:

• Data from CONUS sector is sectorized to smaller area around each NWS station, then divided into wind regimes.

•Wind regimes are defined by the mean boundary level wind (between 1000-700 mb) over a given station divided into 9 regimes: 8 compass points plus calm

• Products from channels 1 and 4 includes cloud percent for each regime for each time period

Calm wind (< 5 m/s) 31 Cases

Southwest wind 24 cases

Northwest wind 25 cases

0 20 40 60 80 100

San Francisco, CA January 1998-2002

Cloud Percent

Special Projects with NWS OfficesWakefield, VA: Constructed cloud composites from first three years of data to investigated areas of preferred warm season convection.

Cheyenne, WY: Constructed cloud composites upstream of the Cheyenne area to search for cloud precursors to high wind events in Cheyenne’s CWA. Found area of increased convection lee of Montana Rockies within 12 hours of Cheyenne event.

Monterey, CA: Construct cloud composites to investigate the formation and dissipation of fog and marine stratus. Provided evidence for suspected relationships between pressure difference between stations and timing of marine stratus dissipation.

Eureka, CA: Construct cloud composites using marine depth information to improve forecast of marine stratus layer. Currently in development.