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GPM Sees Hermine's Twin Towers

NASA Sees Hermine's Twin Towers
Friday, September 2, 2016
In order for Hermine or any other tropical depression, to intensify there must be a pathway for heat energy from the ocean surface to enter the atmosphere. For Hermine, the conduit may have been one of the two "hot towers" that the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite observed on Aug. 31 at 4:09 p.m. EDT (2009 UTC). GPM's DPR instrument saw strong storms near the center of Tropical Depression Hermine on the evening of Aug. 31. Two "hot towers" are seen to the right of the low pressure center (south and east of the center), which are labeled "T1" and "T2." The "L"...
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GPM Views Hurricane Gaston Eye Wall Replacement

GPM Views Hurricane Gaston Eye Wall Replacement
Hurricane Gaston was located in the central Atlantic Ocean west of Bermuda when the GPM core observatory satellite passed over on August 30, 2016 at 00:31 AM EDT (0431 UTC). Gaston was a category two on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale with maximum sustained winds of about 103.5 mph (90 kts). GPM happened to fly over as Gaston was undergoing an eye wall replacement. Intense rainfall was clearly shown by GPM in rain bands of both the inner and the outer replacement eye walls. Precipitation was calculated from data collected by GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation

GPM Sees Hurricane Celia Twice

GPM Sees Hurricane Celia Twice
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

The Art of Creating Digital Hurricanes

Creating Digital Hurricanes
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Every day, scientists at NASA work on creating better hurricanes – on a computer screen. At NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, a team of scientists spends its days incorporating millions of atmospheric observations, sophisticated graphic tools and lines of computer code to create computer models simulating the weather and climate conditions responsible for hurricanes. Scientists use these models to study the complex environment and structure of tropical storms and hurricanes. Getting the simulations right has huge societal implications, which is why one Goddard...
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Alex Becomes the Earliest Hurricane to Form in the Atlantic Since 1938

Alex Becomes the Earliest Hurricane to Form in the Atlantic Since 1938
Alex is a rare storm indeed. Alex officially became a hurricane yesterday at 11:00 am Atlantic Standard Time (AST) with maximum sustained winds estimated at 85 mph by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), making it the earliest hurricane to form in the Atlantic since 1938, when the first storm of the season became a hurricane on the 4th of January. As with Alex, that storm too originated from an extratropical low pressure center. The last hurricane to occur in January was Hurricane Alice in 1955, but Alice had already become a hurricane in the year before at the end of December and survived

GPM Views Atlantic Low Monitored By The National Hurricane Center

GPM Views Atlantic Low Monitored By The National Hurricane Center
A low pressure center located 1100 miles southwest of the Azores has been monitored by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) for possible development into a non-tropical or tropical storm. This low was producing winds of over 52 kts (60 mph). The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June through November so a tropical storm developing this early in the year would be unusual but not unprecented. The GPM core observatory satellite had an excellent daytime look at this area of disturbed weather on January 13, 2016 at 1201 UTC. GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR)

GPM Spots Hurricane Pali Forming

GPM Spots Hurricane Pali Forming
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

GPM 2015: One Year of Storms

Submitted by JacobAdmin on Mon, 01/11/2016
Video Embed

As we enter the new year, take a look back at the snowstorms, tropical storms, typhoons, hurricanes and floods captured and analyzed by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission from around the globe during 2015. 

The complete list of storms by date and location are as follows:

1. New England Nor’easter – January 26 – New England, USA
2. Snowstorm – February 17 – Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina, USA
3. Tornadic Thunderstorms in Midwest – March 25 – Oklahoma and Arkansas, USA

GPM 2015: One Year of Storms

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Monday, January 11, 2016
As we enter the new year, take a look back at the snowstorms, tropical storms, typhoons, hurricanes and floods captured and analyzed by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission from around the globe during 2015. The complete list of storms by date and location are as follows: 1. New England Nor’easter – January 26 – New England, USA 2. Snowstorm – February 17 – Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina, USA 3. Tornadic Thunderstorms in Midwest – March 25 – Oklahoma and Arkansas, USA 4. Typhoon Maysak – March 30 – Yap Islands, Southwest Pacific Ocean 5. Rain Accumulation from Cyclone...
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NASA IMERG Data Measures Hurricane Sandra's Rainfall

Data from NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) were used to estimate the amount of rainfall that hurricane Sandra produced during the period from November 23-29, 2015. Sandra remained well off the Mexican coast during the most dangerous period from November 25-27, 2015 when Sandra was a powerful hurricane with sustained winds of up to 130 kts (150 mph). This analysis shows that much of Sandra's rainfall occurred over the open waters of the Eastern Pacific. This analysis indicates that moisture flowing from hurricane Sandra also caused heavy rainfall totals of over 700
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