GOES-16 Weather Satellite Releases Stunning GIF Of Cyclone Moving Across Minn.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- GOES-16 – a new generation weather satellite previously known as GOES-R – has released a stunning loop video of a cyclone moving across Minnesota.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tweeted the capture Tuesday, saying the midlatitude cyclone cloud system was captured Tuesday during sunrise.

GOES-16 was launched on Nov. 19, 2016. It has been in the works for almost 20 years and will ultimately replace the current group of GOES satellites, which use 1970s technology.

Observations from GOES-16 will also help make day-to-day forecasts more accurate. The satellite has a lot of new capability on board, including the Geostationary Lightning Mapper.

For the first time ever, we will be able to monitor lightning activity in real time across North America, and from the west coast of Africa to the east coast of New Zealand.

Related: GOES-R Weather Satellite Set To Launch

That information will be revolutionary for helping to keep the shipping and aviation industry safer, but it will also be a huge benefit to forecasters over land.

We know that when lightning activity increases within a developing storm, it will likely become severe quickly.

GOES-16 will also gather more types of data, and do it more frequently than our current weather satellites -- at a resolution that is four-times greater. That is the equivalent of going from an iPhone 3 camera to an iPhone 7 camera overnight.

GOES-16 is expected to be fully operational later this year.