Hurricanes

Ana Threatens Hawaiian Islands

Tropical storm Ana, that formed southeast of the Hawaiian islands on October 13, 2014, will be the third tropical cyclone to threaten the island chain this year. Hurricane Iselle weakened to a tropical storm and passed over the island of Hawaii on August 8, 2014. Hurricane Julio was still a hurricane when it veered to the northeast of the islands on August 10, 2014. Tropical storm Ana was recently seen by the TRMM satellite on October 16, 2014 at 2224 UTC and October 17, 2014 at 1313 UTC. Rainfall from these two orbits are shown overlaid on GOES-WEST visible and infrared images received on the
GPM Flies Over Hurricane Gonzalo
Download in Hi-Res from the Scientific Visualization Studio On October 16th, 2014 (1342 UTC) the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's Core Observatory flew over Hurricane Gonzalo as it headed towards Bermuda. Hurricane Gonzalo remains a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, with maximum sustained winds at 130 mph. As of 12:00 UTC (8:00a.m. EDT) on Friday, October 17th, the National Hurricane Center forecast located the storm about 195 miles south southwest of Bermuda, where a hurricane warning is in effect. The GPM Core Observatory carries two instruments that...
GPM Uncovers Compact Eyewall in Hurricane Simon
Hurricane Simon appeared to be keeping a secret before it rapidly intensified on Oct. 4, but the Global Precipitation Measurement or GPM satellite was able uncover it. On Oct. 4 at 0940 UTC (5:40 a.m. EDT) observations by the Ku-band radar on the GPM satellite suggested that the Eastern Pacific Ocean's Hurricane Simon was hiding a very compact eyewall hours before the National Hurricane Center detected rapid intensification of Simon's surface winds. The GPM satellite was launched in February of this year and is managed by both NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. On Oct. 4 at 0940...

Hurricane Odile Rainfall Totals

During the past week hurricane Odile and remnants have produced heavy rainfall that caused dangerous flooding over the Baja California peninsula and the southwestern United States. Rainfall from Odile may be welcomed in the Southwest where some areas have been experiencing extreme to exceptional drought conditions. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite was launched in November 1997 with the primary mission of measuring rainfall in the Tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors. The rainfall analysis above was made using real-time TRMM Multi
GPM Captures Hurricane Odile
​ ​ Animation revealing a swath of GPM/GMI precipitation rates over Hurricane Odile. The camera then moves down closer to the Hurricane to reveal DPR's volumetric view of Odile. As the camera rotates around the Hurricane, a slicing plane dissects Odile revealing it's inner precipitation rates closer to the eye. Shades of blue indicate frozen precipitation (in the upper atmosphere). Shades of green to red are liquid precipitation which extend down to the ground. On September 15, 2014 (15:11 UTC) the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's Core Observatory flew over Hurricane Odile as...

Hurricane Edouard Headed for Cooler Waters

Edouard, which became the fifth named storm of the season after forming on the night of September 11th (EDT) west of the Cape Verde Islands, continued to strengthen as it made its way through the central Atlantic this past week, reaching hurricane intensity on the 14th before becoming the first major hurricane of the season when it peaked briefly as a category 3 storm on the 16th with sustained winds reported at 100 knots (~115 mph) by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Fortunately, the storm has not posed a threat to the US East Coast due to the presence of a deep-layer trough along the

Baja California Battered And Drenched By Odile

Category three hurricane Odile caused widespread destruction after hitting Baja California on Sunday night. Odile had weakened to a tropical storm with winds of about 55 kts ( 63.3 mph) when the TRMM satellite flew over on September 16, 2014 at 0917 UTC (2:19 AM PDT). Odile was still well organized and TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) measured rain falling at a rate of almost 130 mm (5.1 inches) per hour northeast of the tropical storms's center of circulation. The tops of some strong thunderstorms over the Gulf Of California were reaching heights of 13km (8 miles) and returning radar

Hurricane Odile Strikes Baja California

The TRMM satellite passed directly above hurricane Odile on September 15, 2014 at 0344 UTC. This was about an hour before the strong Hurricane hit Baja California near Cabo San Lucas at around 0445 UTC (September 14, 2014 9:45 PM PDT). The National Hurricane Center (NHC) hurricane discussion on September 15, 2014 said, "The estimated intensity of 110 kt at landfall ties Odile with Olivia (1967) as the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the satellite era in the state of Baja California Sur". The image above shows rainfall derived from TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) and Microwave Imager

Cristobal Passes Northwest Of Bermuda

The TRMM satellite had a very good view of Cristobal on August 28, 2014 at 1258 UTC (8:58 EDT) as the hurricane passed well to the northwest of Bermuda. Rainfall derived from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data is shown overlaid on a 1300 UTC GOES-EAST Visible/Infrared image. TRMM PR found some intense thunderstorms producing rain at a rate of almost 78 mm (about 3.1 inches) per hour in a band of precipitation feeding into Cristobal's southeastern side. The next image is a simulated 3-D view (from the west) of Cristobal's rainfall structure using radar reflectivity

Hurricane Cristobal Poised to Head Out to Sea

Cristobal, still a minimal Category 1 hurricane on the US Saffir-Simpson scale, has been slowly making its way northward up from the southeastern Bahamas on a track generally parallel to the eastern seaboard. The storm now appears poised to recurve away from the US East Coast and head for the central Atlantic as it begins to feel the effects of an approaching shortwave trough embedded in the westerlies that's moving eastward out of the Great Lakes region. TRMM made an overpass of Cristobal this morning, which is shown in this image taken at 12:16 UTC (8:16 am EST) 27 August 2014. At the time