Extreme Weather News

Tropical storm Pali intensified late yesterday to become the earliest hurricane ever recorded in the Central Pacific Ocean. Warm ocean waters from El Nino supplied the extra energy needed for Pali to develop and prosper so early in the year. The GPM core observatory satellite flew over Pali on January 11, 2015 at 2121Z. GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) data sliced through Pali clearly showing that an eye had formed. GPM's DPR measured rain falling at a rate of 84.5 mm (3.3 inches) per hour on the eastern side of Pali's forming eye. GPM's radar (DPR Ku Band) peered through Pali's

Tropical cyclone ULA's winds peaked at 115 kts (132 mph) over the weekend. These high winds meant that for a couple days ULA was a category four tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. ULA moved over the waters of the North Fiji Basin between the Fiji Islands and New Caledonia before moving southeastward into the South Fiji Basin. The GPM core observatory satellite had good looks at powerful tropical cyclone ULA during it's changes in intensity. On January 8, 2015 at 2216 UTC GPM saw that rain was falling at a rate of over 63.5 mm (2.5 inches) north of the intensifying

Tropical cyclone ULA weakened to tropical storm intensity after passing south of and then to the west of the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific. ULA has now started to intensify again while moving to the southeast of New Caledonia. The GPM core observatory satellite passed above tropical cyclone ULA on January 7, 2016 at 1149 UTC when maximum sustained wind speeds were estimated at 45 kts (52 mph). Rain was measured by GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instrument falling at a rate of 68 mm (2.7 inches) per hour in storms on ULA's southern side. Some of these convective storms were

Extreme rain events fueled by the current strong El Nino have started to affect California. A series of storms over the Pacific are shown transporting rain toward the west coast. This estimate of rainfall totals from December 31, 2015 to January 6, 2016 was made using data from NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). Global precipitation estimates are provided by IMERG through the use of data from satellites in the GPM Constellation and is calibrated with measurements from the GPM Core Observatory as well as rain gauge networks around the world. The National Weather

The GPM core observatory satellite had an excellent daytime view of tropical cyclone 06P (ULA) on December 30, 2015 at 2358 UTC. The tropical cyclone had moved to the east-southeast of Samoa in the South Pacific Ocean with maximum sustained winds increasing to about 50 kts (58 mph). The rainfall pattern derived from GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments showed that 06P was much better organized. Powerful thunderstorms at the center of the tropical cyclone were found by DPR to be dropping rain at a rate of over 66 mm (2.6 inches) per hour. GPM's