The above-anvil cirrus plume: An important severe weather indicator in visible and infrared satellite imagery

Intense tropopause-penetrating updrafts and gravity wave breaking generate cirrus plumes that reside above the primary anvil. These ''above anvil cirrus plumes'' (AACPs) exhibit unique temperature and reflectance patterns in satellite imagery, best recognized within 1-min ''super rapid scan'' observations. AACPs are often evident during severe weather outbreaks and, due to their importance, have been studied for 351years. Despite this research, there is uncertainty regarding why some storms produce AACPs but other nearby storms do not, exactly how severe are storms with AACPs, and how AACP identification can assist with severe weather warning. These uncertainties are addressed through analysis of severe weather reports, NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS) severe weather warnings, metrics of updraft cloud height, intensity, and rotation derived from Doppler radars, as well as ground-based total lightning observations for 4583 storms observed by GOES super rapid scanning, 405 of which produced an AACP. Datasets are accumulated throughout storm lifetimes through radar object tracking. It is found that 1) AACP storms generated 14 times the number of reports per stormcompared to non-AACP storms; 2)AACPs appeared, on average, 31min in advance of severe weather; 3) 73% of significant severe weather reports were produced by AACP storms; 4) AACP recognition can provide comparable warning lead time to that provided by a forecaster; and 5) the presence of anAACP can increase forecaster confidence that large hail will occur. Given that AACPs occur throughout the world, and most of theworld is not observed byDoppler radar,AACP-based severe storm identification andwarningwould be extremely helpful for protecting lives and property.