Extreme Weather News

Tropical storm Darby became the fourth eastern Pacific Ocean tropical storm to form on July 12, 2016. Last year was an El Nino year and this year is transitioning to a La Nina year with cooler sea surface temperatures (SST) expanding across the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. Fewer tropical storms are normally expected to develop in the eastern Pacific Ocean during La Nina years but so far this year tropical cyclones are forming in the eastern Pacific Ocean at about the same pace as last year. The GPM core observatory satellite flew above tropical depression five (TD05E) on July 12, 2016 at

The GPM core observatory satellite twice flew almost directly above hurricane Celia in the eastern Pacific Ocean on July 12, 2016. The first time was on July 12, 2016 at 0011 UTC and the second view was on July 12, 2016 at 1326 UTC. With both passes GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) clearly showed the location of rainfall around hurricane Celia's well defined eye. The hurricane had maintained intensity during this period with sustained maximum wind speeds estimated at 80 kts (92.8 mph). With the first pass GMI measured rain in the southwestern side of Celia's eye wall falling at a rate of close to

Nepartak was a powerful category four typhoon when it hit Taiwan last week but weakened to a tropical storm as it moved into the Taiwan Strait. Nepartak's winds and heavy rains caused severe problems when it moved ashore over southeastern China. Thousands of homes in China were destroyed by the storm. At least three deaths in Taiwan and six fatalities in China were attributed to Nepartak. Torrential rain caused flash flooding and mudslides in both Taiwan and China. NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) were again used to estimate the total amount of rain that Nepartak

The first typhoon of 2016 called Nepartak developed in the western Pacific Ocean on July 3, 2016 south of Guam. Nepartak has moved to the west-northwest of Guam and has started to rapidly intensify. Warm water, low vertical wind shear and favorable outflow due an upper level trough are providing favorable environmental conditions for the typhoon. The GPM core observatory satellite flew above Nepartak on July 4, 2016 at 2151 UTC when the tropical cyclone was still classified as a tropical storm. GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) data showed that Nepartak

Since last Thursday over two dozen people have been reported killed and hundreds of homes have been destroyed by flooding in West Virginia. The governor of the state declared a federal disaster after the worst flooding in a century. The prevalence of rough terrain in West Virginia has amplified the effects of flooding rainfall. The National Weather Service predicted that thunderstorms were going to fall in the area again today. More flash flooding with streams again coming out of their banks has been predicted. NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) data were used in this