Extreme Weather News

The GPM satellite passed over Tropical Storm Halola in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and found heaviest rainfall occurring north of the center of circulation. Halola formed in the Central Pacific Ocean and moved into the Northwestern Pacific Ocean basin today, July 13. On July 13 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) Tropical Storm Halola had maximum sustained winds near 60 knots (69 mph/111.1 kph). It was located near 14.5 North and 177.0 East, about 694 nautical miles (798 miles/1,285 km) east-southeast of Wake Island. Halola has tracked west-northwestward at 11 knots (12.6 mph/20.3 kph). The Global

A tropical storm called Ela formed east-southeast of the Hawaiian Islands on July 8, 2015 and is expected to pass to the north of the island chain this weekend. GPM had a good view of Ela as the satellite flew over the forming tropical storm on July 8, 2015 at 1316 UTC (3:16 AM HST). The satellite passed above Ela again on July 9, 2015 at 0234 UTC (July 8, 2015 4:34 PM HST) showing that rainfall bands associated with the tropical cyclone were better organized. GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments found today that rainfall was falling at a rate

A chain of tropical cyclones has started forming in the western Pacific Ocean. The GPM core observatory satellite saw two of them this morning. Tropical storm Chan-Hom was seen southeast of Guam by GPM on July 2, 1015 at 0834 UTC. Less than two hours later at 1006 UTC GPM passed over intensifying tropical depression 10W that was located east of the Philippines. Both are expected to become more powerful over the next few days. Typhoon Chan-Hom is predicted by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) to pass just northeast of Guam with winds of over 80 kts (92 mph). TD10W is also predicted to be

The GPM core observatory satellite recently had an excellent view of tropical storm Raquel in the South Pacific Ocean. Raquel was moving over the Solomon Islands on July 1, 2015 at 0749 UTC when viewed by GPM. Tropical cyclone activity normally ramps up in the northern hemisphere this time of the year so Raquel's development yesterday north of the Solomon Islands was a little surprising. Rainfall was measured by GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and Microwave Imager (GMI) instruments. Those data showed that powerful thunderstorms within Raquel were dropping rain at a rate of over

The GPM core observatory satellite flew over a newly formed tropical depression Chan-Hom (09W) on June 30, 2015 at 0841Z. GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) found that rain was falling at a rate of over 78 mm (about 3 inches) per hour near the center of the newly formed tropical cyclone.