Atlantic Hurricane Season Satellite and Radar Imagery Animations

This webpage explains how the animations were created and where the data came from. Click here to go back to the animations page. 

The Atlantic Tropical Storms and Hurricanes Affecting the United States and seasonal Atlantic Hurricane Season SMS & GOES Satellite Imagery animations available.  Additional older analog imagery animations converted from 16mm film, VHS tapes, and other sources are included.

This webpage provides the links of the animations organized by year, and individual storm’s satellite and radar animations. These animations are available through the National Weather Service Lake Charles, Louisiana YouTube  page.


Atlantic Tropical Storms and Hurricanes Affecting the United States

The Atlantic Tropical Storms and Hurricanes Affecting the United States chronicle the tropical cyclones that affected the United States each season, using SMS & GOES satellite imagery and land based National Weather Service radar imagery in the areas affected.

The 1978-1994 satellite animations include SMS-2, GOES-2, 5, 6, 7 visible (4 & 1 kilometer resolution) and infrared (7 kilometer resolution) imagery.  Limited WSR-88D radar imagery animations from 1992-1994 will be used where available. Earlier WSR-57 & WSR-74S network radar imagery was primary archived through photographs of the Plan Position Indicator (PPI) and is yet to be digitized, only available via microfilm from NCEI. Limited WSR-57 & WSR-74S animations that were converted from 16mm film to digital via NOAA Central Library & NECI, and AOML post processed radar animations will be used where applicable.

The 1995-2017 satellite animations include GOES-8, 12, 13, 14 visible (4 & 1 kilometer resolution) and infrared (4 kilometer resolution) imagery.  The radar used is land based National Weather Service WSR-88D radar imagery in the areas affected. These animations were converted from the Satellite and Radar Imagery Movies of Atlantic Hurricane Seasons on DVD project the author created during the years 2002-2018. The file size varies by length and content.  Since these videos were originally created for and transferred from DVD, all are Standard Definition (DVD quality) with dimensions of 640x480 and a bit rate of 8000 kbps.  Due to restrictions of YouTube, the videos are reprocessed with a bit rate closer to 2500 kbps, resulting in a slightly “grainier” appearance than the original DVDs and converted files. 

The 2018 (and beyond) animations include GOES-16 satellite imagery at 4 kilometer resolution (Infrared, Visible, & GeoColor), 2 kilometer resolution (Infrared), and 1 kilometer resolution (Visible, GeoColor). The radar used is land based National Weather Service WSR-88D radar imagery in the areas affected.

The tables on the main page show all the satellite and radar animations available, one table per yearly Atlantic Hurricane Season. The first title "Atlantic Hurricane Season SMS & GOES Infrared Satellite Imagery" links to the complete SMS & GOES infrared satellite imagery animation for that season. The next title "Atlantic Tropical Storms and Hurricanes Affecting the United States" links to the yearly YouTube playlist. Then the individual satellite and radar animations are linked to the corresponding YouTube animations. The storm names are linked to the National Hurricane Center's Tropical Cyclone Reports for further information on that particular storm.

The available resolutions, frequency, frame rates, and sources with the years available follows:

1978-1994: Satellite animations are in High Definition (1920x1080 & 1280x720 resolution formats) displaying half hourly imagery at 5 frames per second. 1992-1994 WSR-88D radar animations are in High Definition (1280x720 resolution format) displaying 5-6 minute imagery at 30 frames per second.
Source of the radar data from 1992-1994: National Centers for Environmental Information (NECI), Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Source of the satellite data: NOAA Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS).
Source of the satellite data 1978 and intermittent gaps in CLASS archive 1979-1986: The Satellite Data Services (SDS) group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC)

1995-2017: Satellite and radar animations were converted from DVD. They are in Standard Definition (640x480). The satellite animations display 15 minute  imagery at 10 frames per second. Radar animations display 4-6 minute imagery and were sped up to 30 frames per second for consistency with the newer radar animations created.
Source of the radar data from 1995-2001: National Centers for Environmental Information (NECI)
Source of the radar data from 2002-2005: National Weather Service Southern Region Headquarters.
Source of the radar data from 2006-2017: National Centers for Environmental Information (NECI)
Source of the satellite data 1995-2001: NOAA Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS)
Source of the satellite data 2002-2017: GOES Project Science (now Out of Service)

2018-        : Satellite and radar animations are in High Definition (1920x1080 & 1280x720 resolution formats).  The satellite animations display 5 minute imagery at 30 frames per second.  Radar animations display 4-6 minute imagery at 30 frames per second.
Source of the radar data: National Centers for Environmental Information (NECI), Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Source of the satellite data: NOAA Star GOES Image Viewer

The NOAA Weather and Climate Toolkit was used to convert the radar data from National Centers for Environmental Information (NECI) & Amazon Web Services (AWS), as well as the early SMS-2, GOES-2, 5, 6, 7 satellite data from NOAA Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS).

Technical contributions came from the following individuals:
Jared Rackley (Now at NWS Pittsburg, PA) for writing and initially putting into place the archiving scripts to collect the satellite data in 2018.  Rob Megnia (Now at WFO Boston, MA) and Donovan Landreneau for updating the changes to file structures within the code and getting the archiving scripts going once again in 2020. Lamar Holmes (ITO) and Donovan Landreneau for updating the changes to file structures within the code and getting the archiving scripts going once again in 2024.

SMS-2, GOES-2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 16 satellite imagery archive has the following limitations:
- Data integrity issues, with black or white lines across some of the frames.
- Data gaps in archive left intermittent gaps in the animations, or in some cases, not enough data to create an animation for a particular storm.

The GOES-6 & GOES-7 satellites had a history of being moved to a central U.S. location. This was due to failures of the cloud imagers of GOES-5 (GOES East) on July 30, 1984 and GOES-6 (GOES West) on January  21, 1989. GOES-6 positions ranged from 98° to 107° West Longitude from August 1984-April 1987. GOES-7 positions ranged from 98° to 107° West Longitude from January 1989-December 1991, but stayed at 112° West Longitude from January 1992-November 1994 due to being low on fuel for yearly maneuvers. The following website has a great summary of all the GOES Satellites, dates of operations, and positions:
https://www.avl.class.noaa.gov/release/data_available/goes/index.htm


Atlantic Hurricane Season SMS & GOES Infrared Satellite Imagery

The Atlantic Hurricane Season SMS & GOES Infrared Satellite Imagery animations present a chronological succession of SMS & GOES Infrared Satellite Imagery for the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico. Within these animations, the names of all the tropical cyclones appear near the formation location. The SMS & GOES satellite imagery from 1978-2018 had a regular interval of one-half hour, with the animations set at 15 frames per second. Beginning with 2019, the animations were created using 10 minute interval imagery with the animations set at 30 frames per second.

The available resolutions, frequency, frame rates, and sources with the years available follows:

1978-1994: Animations are in High Definition (1280x720 resolution format) displaying half hourly imagery at 15 frames per second.
Source of the satellite data 1979-1994: NOAA Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS).
Source of the satellite data 1978 and intermittent gaps in CLASS archive 1979-1986: The Satellite Data Services (SDS) group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC)

1995-1999: Animations were converted from DVD. They are in Standard Definition (640x480 resolution format) displaying half hourly imagery at 15 frames per second.
Source of the satellite data: NOAA Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS).

2000-2018: Animations were converted from DVD. They are in Standard Definition (640x480 resolution format) displaying half hourly imagery at 15 frames per second.
Source of the satellite data 2000-2017: Geostationary Satellite Server.
Source of the satellite data 2018: NOAA Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS).

2019-        : Animations are in High Definition (1280x720) displaying 10 minute imagery at 30 frames per second.
Source of the satellite data: NOAA Star GOES Image Viewer

The NOAA Weather and Climate Toolkit was used to convert the early SMS-2, GOES-2, 5, 6, 7 satellite data from NOAA Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS).

Technical contributions came from the following individuals: Jared Rackley (WFO Pittsburg) for writing and initially putting into place the archiving scripts to collect the data. Rob Megnia and Donovan Landreneau for correcting the changes to file structures within the code made in 2019, and Rob Megnia getting the archiving scripts going once again to have the data to make these satellite animations.

SMS-2, GOES-2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 16 satellite imagery archive has the following limitations:
- Data integrity issues, with black or white lines across some of the frames.
- Data gaps in archive left intermittent gaps in the animations, or in some cases, not enough data to create an animation for a particular storm.

The GOES-6 & GOES-7 satellites had a history of being moved to a central U.S. location. This was due to failures of the cloud imagers of GOES-5 (GOES East) on July 30, 1984 and GOES-6 (GOES West) on January  21, 1989. GOES-6 positions ranged from 98° to 107° West Longitude from August 1984-April 1987. GOES-7 positions ranged from 98° to 107° West Longitude from January 1989-December 1991, but stayed at 112° West Longitude from January 1992-November 1994 due to being low on fuel for yearly maneuvers. The following website has a great summary of all the GOES Satellites, dates of operations, and positions:
https://www.avl.class.noaa.gov/release/data_available/goes/index.htm


1968-1970 Tropical Cyclones Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) III Visible Imagery​
1971-1973 Hurricane Seasons Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) III Visible Imagery​
1976-1986 Hurricane Season Cloud Motions

These animations present a chronological succession of Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) III Visible Imagery​ from 1968-1973, and Synchronous Meteorological Satellite (SMS) & Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) infrared imagery from 1976-1986 for the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico (except 1978 that uses GOES-West for the Eastern Pacific movie).  The original 1971-1973, 1976-1986 movies came from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NECI), which transferred the original 16 mm films to VHS tapes. The author transferred these VHS tapes to Digital Video tape, and to the following animations. This would explain some of the resolution loss, especially with the 1980 animation, which came from a second generation VHS copy. No audio was found with these films.


Hurricane Camille WSR-57 Radar Animation: August 17-18, 1969

U.S. Weather Bureau New Orleans, LA WSR-57 radar animation from August 17, 1969 11:30 AM CDT to August 18, 1969 1:00 AM CDT showing Camille affecting Southeast Louisiana and landfall across the Mississippi coast. Source of WSR-57 imagery: NECI. Animation created by Margaret E. Kieper from A Reanalysis of Hurricane Camille by Margaret E. Kieper, Christopher W. Landsea, and John L. Beven II.


Hurricane Carla WSR-57 Radar Animation: September 10-11, 1961

This animation show the U.S. Weather Bureau Galveston, TX WSR-57 radar animation of Hurricane Carla September 10-11, 1961. From the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Weather Bureau Hurricane Carla Radar Documentary obtained from the NOAA Central Library:
https://library.oarcloud.noaa.gov/noaa_documents.lib/video/NOAA_16mm/QC9452C37H881961.mov


Hurricane Audrey WSR-1 Radar Animations: June 26-27, 1957

These animations present rare land-based radar imagery of Hurricane Audrey June 26-27, 1957. The original source was a 16 mm film made directly from photographs of the Plan Position Indicator (PPI) scopes of WSR-1 radars from Galveston, Houston, Beaumont, Lake Charles, and Baton Rouge. The author used a 16mm projector to display the movie on the screen while recording it with a DV camcorder, then transferring it to DVD and the following animations. No audio was found with this film.