Weather nowcasting

Weather nowcasting addresses very short range forecasting, roughly zero to six hours ahead, of convective storms, precipitation onset, fog, and other fast evolving severe weather hazards, relying on the rapid refresh imagery that geostationary satellites provide.^[1][2][3] Atmospheric motion vectors are derived by tracking cloud and water vapor features across successive geostationary images, yielding wind information used to follow storm development and motion.^[1] Geostationary lightning mapping detects total lightning activity, both in cloud and cloud to ground, from orbit, supporting early warning of convective intensification and severe storm onset.^[2] Geostationary hyperspectral infrared sounding provides frequently refreshed vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and moisture, used to track the pre convective environment ahead of storm formation.^[3] Satellite precipitation retrieval estimates rainfall rate from the same rapid refresh geostationary infrared imagery, offering a further cue for tracking precipitation onset within the nowcasting window.^[4] Thermal anomaly detection follows cloud top cooling trends and overshooting tops as an additional signal of convective intensification.^[5][6] Together these techniques give forecasters wind, lightning, thermodynamic, and precipitation information refreshed often enough to support nowcasting's short lead time forecasts.