Extreme Weather News

From July 29 to August 5, 2020, NASA’s IMERG algorithm observed tropical storm Isaias’ rainfall over the Caribbean and large parts of the Eastern US. This animation shows the IMERG rain rates in green shading as Isaias tracked from the tropical Atlantic into the Caribbean, then northward along the Atlantic coast and into New England. The yellow line shows the location of Isaias' low-pressure center, as tracked by the National Hurricane Center and smoothed in time here for the animation.

Hanna formed from a westward propagating tropical easterly wave that entered the southeast corner of the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday July 21st. The wave provided a focus for shower and thunderstorm activity, which then led to the formation of an area of low pressure over the central Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) found that this low had developed a closed circulation by the evening of Wednesday July 22nd, making it Tropical Depression #8. Over the next 24 hours, the depression slowly organized and intensified over the central Gulf before reaching tropical storm intensity on

Hurricane Douglas continued to approach the Hawaiian islands during this GPM overpass early in the morning (02:11 UTC) of July 25, 2020. Douglas had previously strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane the day before, but had substantially weakened over cooler waters throughout the day. Regardless, the GMI and DPR instruments recorded rain rates near 50 millimeters/hour (~2 inches/hour) near Douglas` center. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center advised residents of Hawaii to expect hurricane-strength winds and rainfall starting Saturday evening and lasting through Monday. View fullscreen in STORM

From July 3-9, 2020, NASA’s IMERG algorithm continued to observe the heavy precipitation that fell as part of the seasonal Meiyu-Baiu rains (“plum rains”) in east Asia. Weekly totals reached their regional maxima over the island of Kyushu in southern Japan. About half of the island of Kyushu received over 45 cm (~18 inches) of rain. The majority of Honshu, Japan’s main island, as well as Shikoku to its south, were also impacted by the rains, receiving from 10-25 cm, depending on the location. Additionally, large areas of eastern China were also covered by the plum rains during this weekly

This animation shows NASA IMERG rain rates (blue shading) and accumulations (green shading) near Kyushu island, in the southwest of Japan from June 29 - July 5, 2020. Devastating floods and landslides swept through parts of Kyushu on July 4, 2020, resulting in over 40 deaths and orders for hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes according to media reports. Download video (right-click -> Save As) The rains that triggered the flooding occurred in the context of the Meiyu-Baiu rainy season, which arrives in east Asia every year from June to mid-July. “Meiyu” and “Baiu” are the