Hurricanes

Harvey Hits Texas, Unleashes Major Flooding
Despite its earlier demise, after rejuvinating over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Harvey has become a major weather maker as it unleashes historical flooding over parts of coastal Texas. Harvey began on the 17th of August as a weak tropical storm about 250 miles (~400 km) east of Barbados in the Leeward Islands. Over the next two days, Harvey continued moving steadily westward passing through the Leeward Islands as a still weak tropical storm and entered into the east central Caribbean. On the 19th, Harvey succumbed to the effects of northeasterly wind shear over the central...

GPM's Radar Measures Intense Rain In Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey's has continued to intensify today as it moves toward the Texas coast. Bands of rain from the hurricane were affecting the Gulf coast from Louisiana to southeastern Texas. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission core observatory satellite had another look at hurricane Harvey on August 25, at 7:50 AM CDT (1150 UTC) as it was menacing the Texas gulf coast. GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instrument scanned precipitation within powerful storms wrapping around the eastern side of the hurricane. DPR found that intense storms in that area were dropping rain

GPM Observes Intensifying Hurricane Harvey's Rainfall

UPDATE: View the latest GPM overpass from 8/25/17 1141 UTC using the STORM Event Viewer: https://storm.pps.eosdis.nasa.gov/storm/cesium/EventViewer.html?positio… Hurricane Harvey has continued to intensify after regenerating in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday. Harvey's intensification has been aided by moving through an environment that includes low vertical wind shear and the warm waters in the Gulf Of Mexico. The Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) core observatory satellite

Intensifying Hurricane Kenneth Examined By GPM

The GPM core observatory satellite flew over hurricane Kenneth when it was approaching it's peak power on August 21, 2017 at 0158 UTC. This rainfall map of hurricane Kenneth was derived from the GPM satellite's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments. GPM's GMI data enables analysis of precipitation across a swath that is 550 miles (885 km) wide. GPM's radar (Ku Band) can be used to show three-dimensional maps of precipitation structure along a narrower 152 mile (245 km) swath. GPM's radar found rain falling at a rate of over 11.3 inches (286 mm) per

GPM Examines Hurricane Gert's Rainfall

The GPM core observatory satellite provided rainfall information about hurricane Gert on August 16, 2017 at 5:37 PM EDT (2137 UTC). At that time Gert was a strong category two hurricane with maximum sustained winds of about 93.5 mph (85 kts). Data from GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument showed that rain was still falling at a rate of more than 2.94 inches (74.7 mm) per hour in a powerful band of storms spiraling around Gert's eastern side. With that pass GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) had a limited encounter with hurricane Gert. DPR did find that rain in storms on the

GPM Sees Gert Approaching Hurricane Intensity

Tropical storm Gert was upgraded to a Hurricane on 1100 PM EDT Monday August 14, 2017 at 11:00 PM (August 15, 2017 0300 UTC). The GPM core observatory satellite flew over the intensifying tropical storm on August 14, 2017 at 7:21 PM EDT (2321 UTC). With winds of about 69 mph (60 kts) Gert was getting close to hurricane intensity. Data collected by GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments showed heavy rainfall south of Gert's partial eye. GMI showed that rain was falling at a rate of over 1.6 inches (40 mm) in that area. GPM's Radar scanned through

GPM Sees Franklin Becoming A Hurricane

As expected, tropical storm Franklin intensified and was upgraded to hurricane Franklin in the afternoon of August 9, 2017. Franklin made landfall on the coast of eastern Mexico early this morning as a category 1 hurricane with winds of over 86 mph (75 kts). Heavy rainfall, flash floods and mudslides are expected as Franklin moves inland and weakens. The remnants of Franklin may survive the transit over Mexico's rough terrain and revive after moving into the eastern Pacific Ocean. The GPM core observatory satellite saw tropical storm Franklin with winds of about 69 mph (60 kts) as it was

Hilary And Irwin Interaction Shown

Tropical cyclone development in the eastern Pacific Ocean has been occurring at a slightly above normal pace this year. Hurricanes Hilary and Irwin were the two most recently named tropical cyclones to form in this area. These two were a little unusual because they traveled so close to each other that an interaction occurred that radically changed the direction and speed of tropical storm Irwin's movement. The Fujiwara effect happens when cyclones move close of one another. Their centers will sometimes begin orbiting cyclonically (in the northern hemisphere) about a point between the two
A New Multi-dimensional View of a Hurricane
Download in high resolution from the NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio NASA researchers now can use a combination of satellite observations to re-create multi-dimensional pictures of hurricanes and other major storms in order to study complex atmospheric interactions. In this video, they applied those techniques to Hurricane Matthew. When it occurred in the fall of 2016, Matthew was the first Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in almost ten years. Its torrential rains and winds caused significant damage and loss of life as it coursed through the Caribbean and up along the southern U.S...

GPM Views Dissipating Hurricane Fernanda

The GPM core observatory satellite had another exceptional view of hurricane Fernanda when it flew over on July 20, 2017 at 0101 UTC. GPM saw a much different hurricane than it viewed a couple days earlier. GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) radar instruments found that the dissipating hurricane only contained heavy rainfall in it's northwestern quadrant. Cooler water, dry air, and southwesterly vertical wind shear had caused Fernanda to weaken. GPM's Radar revealed that powerful convective storms in that part of the dissipating hurricane were still