Reading the infrared cloud map
Infrared satellites measure how cold each cloud top is. Cold means high— towering storm clouds reach the coldest, highest air — so brightness is really a height cue.
Thunderstorms, tropical systems and deep frontal cloud — the coldest, highest tops, where the weather is most active.
Mid-level and low cloud decks — warmer tops closer to the surface, the everyday overcast between the storms.
The warm surface shows through as transparent — clear skies, and on the map the graphite Earth reads straight through.
New to satellite imagery, or wondering how it differs from radar? These explainers unpack it:
Clouds, radar and the satellite basemap — three different questions
Where the cloud is right now, worldwide, day and night. A live satellite view of the whole cloud field — the big picture.
Where rain and snow are actually reaching the ground. Not all cloud rains — radar tells you which cloud is doing something.
EARTH · BASEMAPSatellite basemap →The groundin true colour — land, sea and coastlines. A cloud-free base to lay the live cloud field on top of.
See it in context
The living cloud backdrop — add storms, flights or lightning on top and watch the weather assemble.
EARTH · STORMSHurricane tracks →A hurricane is a cloud system you can watch spin — the tracks over the live cloud field.
SKY · TONIGHTWill it be clear tonight? →Dark on the cloud map means clear skies — the first thing any stargazer checks.
About this data
The cloud field is NOAA/NESDIS’s Global Mosaic of Geostationary Satellite Imagery (GMGSI), which blends the longwave-infrared channel of GOES-18/19, Meteosat-9/10 and Himawari-9 into one seamless global picture and refreshes it hourly. NOAA data are US public domain, so we serve the merged NOAA product directly. It covers the planet from about 72°N to 72°S — the poles fall outside what a satellite parked over the equator can see. We show it as a satellite view, not a forecast, and never as a statement about rain reaching the ground — for that, add the precipitation radar.