The April 1980 Heat Wave as Depicted by TIROS-N

On April 21, 1980, heat records were broken over a wide area of the upper Midwest and Northern Plains regions. The high temperature of 100 degrees F at both Grand Forks and Fargo, N.D., broke all-time highs for any April, while record-breaking 90s were common in the surrounding region. The TIROS-N s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 1980-01, Vol.61 (11), p.1406-1407
Main Authors: Togstad, W. E., Smith, W. L., Wade, G. S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic data
Brightness temperature
correspondence
Isotherms
Surface temperature
Weather forecasting
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Summary:On April 21, 1980, heat records were broken over a wide area of the upper Midwest and Northern Plains regions. The high temperature of 100 degrees F at both Grand Forks and Fargo, N.D., broke all-time highs for any April, while record-breaking 90s were common in the surrounding region. The TIROS-N satellite overpassed this region at similar to 1000 hr GMT. Of its varous moisture and thermal sensing channels, the MSU-2 channel appears most interesting for study since its thermal sensitivity peaks around 700 mb. A remarkable correspondence between the early morning thermal emission to space and the daily maximum surface temperatures is probable because the maximum surface temperatures resulted primarily from adiabatically warmed air subsiding from the middle and upper troposphere. The TIROS MSU-2 detected the spatial details of the warmings aloft well in advance (10 hr) of the time the warmest conditions appeared at the surface.
ISSN:0003-0007
1520-0477