JamesCaruso
Staff member
Playing around with ChatGPT to see if it can analyze a satellite image for the setup in the southern Plains this evening, 05/24/25, from a storm chasing perspective. Below is the image I uploaded, my prompt, and the response. Curious how you think ChatGPT performed. Also post about ways you have experimented with it or actually used it for chasing.
Prompt:
Can you interpret this satellite image? Identify the types of clouds you see in each region and what they might indicate (for example, “in the southwestern quadrant of the state of X, there are clouds of the type Y, which indicates Z…” Based on your interpretation, where would you want to be right now as a storm chaser?
Response:
“This is a visible satellite image centered on Oklahoma and surrounding states, with the timestamp showing late afternoon (6:42 PM CDT) on Saturday, May 24. Here’s a regional breakdown of cloud types and what they suggest:
Northeastern Oklahoma:
Target Area: Western Oklahoma into the eastern Texas Panhandle, especially around the I-40 corridor west of Clinton to east of Amarillo.
Why:
Prompt:
Can you interpret this satellite image? Identify the types of clouds you see in each region and what they might indicate (for example, “in the southwestern quadrant of the state of X, there are clouds of the type Y, which indicates Z…” Based on your interpretation, where would you want to be right now as a storm chaser?
Response:
“This is a visible satellite image centered on Oklahoma and surrounding states, with the timestamp showing late afternoon (6:42 PM CDT) on Saturday, May 24. Here’s a regional breakdown of cloud types and what they suggest:
Northeastern Oklahoma:
- Cloud type: Extensive altocumulus and stratocumulus, some showing gravity wave patterns.
- Interpretation: These mid-level clouds and wave features often indicate stable conditions aloft, likely a capping inversion, but with moisture and lift in the lower levels. Storm development may be suppressed here unless the cap breaks
- Cloud type: Isolated cumulus growing into towering cumulus, especially in the far eastern Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma.
- Interpretation: These are bubbling cumulus clouds indicating rising air and possible convective initiation. Some are showing vertical development suggestive of early thunderstorm updrafts. This area is most promising for storm chasing right now.
- Cloud type: Larger convective cells with overshooting tops casting shadows — indicative of ongoing thunderstorms or strong development.
- Interpretation: Storms are already mature or rapidly intensifying here, possibly severe.
- Cloud type: Shallow cumulus fields, more scattered.
- Interpretation: Daytime heating is generating instability, but there’s little vertical development — likely lower chances of organized convection for now.
- Cloud type: Stratiform and thicker mid- to high-level clouds in the northern parts; cellular convection starting in the southeast.
- Interpretation: Upper-level dynamics might be moving in, helping to destabilize this region slowly, though storms are still less organized compared to western OK/TX.
Target Area: Western Oklahoma into the eastern Texas Panhandle, especially around the I-40 corridor west of Clinton to east of Amarillo.
Why:
- Visible signs of vertical development (towering cumulus).
- Clear skies elsewhere support surface heating and instability.
- Proximity to likely surface boundaries or dryline.
- Good visibility and road network for chasing.
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