Phenomena: Atmospheric River, Mid-Latitude Cyclone
Satellite: GOES-18 (GOES West)
Product: Air Mass
Instrument: Advanced Baseline Imager  
Date: Nov. 19, 2024 (00:00 UTC) - Nov. 20, 2024 (16:00 UTC) 

NOAA’s GOES West satellite captured enhanced color imagery of a powerful mid-latitude cyclone and accompanying atmospheric river impacting northern California, the Pacific Northwest, and British Columbia from Nov. 19–20, 2024. This weather system has been bringing strong winds, heavy rain, and mountain snow across the region, increasing the risk of flash floods, rock slides and debris flows.

The imagery shows the powerful low-pressure system swirling about 300 miles off the coast of Washington as it draws in a strong atmospheric river from across the Pacific Ocean. This combination has brought hurricane-force winds, left at least two people dead and hundreds of thousands without power, caused extensive tree damage, and triggered blizzard conditions in the Cascades. This is an historically intense storm, dubbed a “bomb cyclone”, which is a mid-latitude storm system whose central pressure dramatically decreases in a short period of time as the storm rapidly intensifies. 

The GOES West satellite, also known as GOES-18, provides geostationary satellite coverage of the Western Hemisphere, including the United States, the Pacific Ocean, Alaska and Hawaii. First launched in March 2018, the satellite became fully operational in February 2019.