Satellite Images

The enhanced infrared images display color-coded temperatures of the earth’s surface or highest atmospheric cloud layer. Higher clouds have progressive lower temperatures. Although high, cold clouds do not necessarily equate with strong storms at the surface, they are often indicative of deep, intense atmospheric systems.

Forecasters use infrared images to distinguish the deeper, stronger weather systems from more innocuous low clouds. For example, on a visible satellite image low clouds and fog (which seldom produce significant precipitation) can look the same a high clouds of a major storm system. An additional advantage of infrared images is that they can be viewed at any hour of the day; visible images are only usable during daytime.

GOES IMAGES	NAT’L WEATHER SERVICE	NEXRAD IMAGES
Visible oregon large | small northwest large | small n. pacific large | small Enhanced Infrared oregon large | small northwest large | small n. pacific large | small Topographic Infrared oregon large | small northwest large | small n. pacific large | small Water Vapor Gray Scale False Color IR & Fronts Infrared Topographic	Satellite Page Radar Page	Current Radar Base Reflectivity National Radar 24-hr Total Precipitation