On November 19, the first in a new generation of weather satellites was launched from Cape Canaveral. GOES-R, will be placed in a geostationary orbit and then tested for several months.
Once fully operational, GOES-R will be able to scan our weather in high resolution, four times more detailed than before. It will provide high-resolution, rapid-refresh satellite imagery as often as every 30 seconds, allowing for a more detailed look at a storm to determine whether it is growing or decaying.
Hurricane tracking and intensity forecasts are expected to improve, along with the predictions of severe thunderstorms, including lightning, tornadoes, and flash flooding. GOES-R even has sensors designed to provide warnings of solar storms which will be used to provide advanced warnings of geomagnetic storms which have been known to disrupt electricity distribution and cell phone service.
