El Nino Watch
The latest infrared image from Japan's Himawari satellite (updated about every 10 minutes). Bright, cold cloud tops = tall storm clouds; day and night.
Map layers
Himawari is a geostationary satellite: it stays above the same point over the equator and photographs Asia and the western Pacific every 10 minutes. The infrared channel (band 13) measures the temperature of whatever it sees: the ground, the sea, or cloud tops.
High clouds are very cold, so they stand out. Tall thunderstorms and cyclones have the coldest tops.
The coldest (highest) cloud tops appear brightest or in the strongest colours of the legend; warm ground and sea appear dark. A tight, round mass of cold cloud with spiral bands is a tropical cyclone.