Philadelphia, PA
- The enormous refinery explosion Friday morning in Philadelphia ended up being so massive that its image was observable on weather satellites, reported by the National Weather Service. The heated blob was picked up by the satellites as a giant fireball.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service (NWS) Key West station detected the signature explosion using infrared images transmitted for a weather satellite. Infrared imagery catches heat, and the small burst of red and black in the satellite's view signifies the extreme temperature of the blast.
The facility Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery is the 10th largest inside the United States and the most significant oil refining complex along the Eastern seaboard. Philadelphia Energy Solutions has a little more than 1,000 employee's and refines over 335,000 barrels of crude oil each day.
