At a Glance

Satellite and radar provide compelling images of major and minor weather events.Here's some of the best weather imagery we saw in 2018.

Hundreds of fascinating weather images, from major storms to obscure weather events, captivate meteorologists each year.

Below, we've selected 15 of what we thought were some of the most compelling weather images in 2018, including satellite, radar and other sources.

1. Memphis Thunderstorm Resembles a Jellyfish

We begin with this Doppler radar animation showing outflow from thunderstorms spreading outward in all directions near Memphis, Tennessee, on July 12. The outflow is the rain-cooled air that descends in the downdraft of a thunderstorm and is commonly seen on radar.

What makes this occurrence unique is that the , somewhat resembling a jellyfish.

(National Weather Service)

2. Collision of Thunderstorm Complexes

Satellite imagery captured two large thunderstorm complexes merging over Texas on June 4.

This particular case was unusual since one of the complexes was moving westward from southeastern Texas toward West Texas. Steering currents typically move weather systems in the opposite direction from west-to-east in the United States.

The darker orange and red shadings in the satellite animation represent higher clouds. Some cloud tops in the vigorous thunderstorm activity were according to NOAA.

(NOAA)

3. Explosive Thunderstorm Formation

This next animation shows the explosive formation of a thunderstorm over Cuba's Isle of Youth on July 23.

Small cumulus clouds developed initially with the daytime heating, a typical occurrence in tropical climates during summertime.

You can then see a more pronounced blow up of clouds near the island's center as a convergence of sea-breeze winds from all directions forced air to rise vertically. The rising air cooled and condensed, leading to the thunderstorm's pronounced vertical growth.

(NOAA)

4. Rotating Supercells in Texas

This minute-by-minute visible satellite animation shows supercell thunderstorms exploding over the Texas Panhandle on May 29. If you look closely, you can see the counterclockwise rotation within the tall cloud tops of the supercells.

The storms produced large hail and a couple of brief tornadoes in the

5. Michael's Landfall

The most frightening satellite animation of 2018 might be Hurricane Michael's along the Florida Panhandle.

Michael was a strong Category 4, packing 155-mph maximum sustained winds at landfall on Oct. 10, making it the most intense hurricane on record to strike the Florida Panhandle.

(NASA)

6. Michael From the International Space Station

Here's how Michael's eye appeared when viewed by the naked eye from the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS near the time it made landfall.

(NASA/AstroSerena/Twitter)

7. Eye of Yutu Surrounds Pacific Island

in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on Oct. 25.

Yutu was a Category 5 equivalent when it produced this incredible image of its eye encompassing the entire island of Tinian.

(NOAA/CIMSS)

8. Florence Drenches the Carolinas

Hurricane Florence was less about how it appeared on satellite at its time of landfall, and more about the immense of amount of rain it produced.

This animation shows how soil conditions went from dry (orange/brown) to extremely wet (blue/purple) as Florence moved through the Carolinas at an agonizingly slow pace over the course of several days in September.

(NASA)

9. Winter Storm Grayson a Classic Nor'easter

Winter Storm Grayson's intense area of low pressure gave us this striking visible satellite image at the beginning of January.

The cloud canopy of the nor'easter had the classic comma-shaped appearance that is typically seen in satellite images of major East Coast storms.

Grayson dumped before it walloped the Northeast.

10. Undular Bore Over the Gulf of Mexico

A rare undular bore sweeping away from the Texas coast caught the eyes of meteorologists on March 19.

You can see the thin stripe of cloud cover in the loop below followed by additional wavy bands of clouds behind it.

Undular bores are waves in the atmosphere that form when two air masses of different temperatures collide. Read more about how undular bores develop .

(NOAA/RAMMB/CIRA)

11. Orange Snow

Dust from northern Africa's Sahara Desert was lofted through the atmosphere toward southeastern Europe in late March.

The dust particles eventually fell to the ground and were so heavily concentrated that pre-existing snowpack in the region took on an orange appearance when viewed on satellite imagery. Ski resort visitors also documented the .

(NASA)

12. Volcano Erupts

The deadly eruption of Guatemala's Volcano of Fire was seen on visible satellite imagery on June 3.

You can see the plume of volcanic ash bursting upward through the surrounding cloud cover in the loop below.

(NOAA/RAMMB/CIRA)

13. Southern California Swirl

A swirl of low-level clouds called a appeared over the Pacific waters of Southern California on Feb. 1.

The vortex was photographed in high detail by an F-18 pilot, but it was also .

(This photo of the vortex was captured by "Boots" out the window of his F-18 on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018.)

14. Camp Fire

California's is seen in this satellite image taken by Landsat 8 on Nov. 8, the same day the rapidly spreading fire began.

Paradise, California, was destroyed after the wildfire raged through the town and killed dozens of people.

(NASA)

15. Wildfire Produces Tornado-Like Vortex

This last image may not seem like much, but for meteorologists, it was a shocker.

Doppler radar showed rotating winds within the smoke plume of the Carr Fire in Northern California July 26. The rotation is illustrated by the side-by-side blue and red shadings near the Redding label.

Meteorologists typically use this type of radar data to diagnose thunderstorms that are showing signs of rotation since it can be a precursor for the development of tornadoes in other parts of the United States.

revealed the Carr Fire produced its own tornado-like vortex in the form of a large fire whirl. Wind damage equivalent to an EF3 tornado was found in the region where the fire whirl occurred.