Hurricanes

The GPM core observatory satellite had an excellent view of hurricane Fernanda on July 18, 2017 at 0110 UTC. Hurricane Fernanda had weakened from it's peak wind speed of 125 kts (143.75 mph) attained on July 15, 2017 but still had maximum sustained wind speeds of about 95 kts (109 mph). This meant that Fernanda was still a powerful category two hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) data showed the location of intense rainfall circling around Fernanda's eye. Measurements by GPM's Radar (DPR Ku band) showed

Hurricane Eugene formed on July 7, 2017 in the eastern Pacific Ocean south of the Baja Peninsula. Eugene was intensifying when the GPM core observatory satellite flew over on July 9, 2017 at 0236 UTC. Eugene reached it's peak power later that day with it's maximum sustained wind speeds reaching about 100 kts (115.0 mph). The center of GPM's track passed to the west of Eugene's eye. Data collected by GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instrument showed that powerful storms in the northwestern quadrant of the hurricane were dropping rain at a rate of over 186 mm (7.3 inches) per hour

Hurricane Otto hit the southern coast of Nicaragua on November 24, 2016 at about 1800 UTC (1 PM EST). Otto had winds of about 95 kts (109 mph). The hurricane crossed into Nicaragua just north of the town of San Juan de Nicaragua that is located at 10.9 degrees North latitude. This makes Otto the southernmost land falling hurricane in Central America on record. Otto dropped flooding rainfall as is weakened and moved through northwestern Coast Rica. Otto was still a well organized tropical storm when it moved into the Eastern Pacific early on November 25, 2016. Otto's maximum sustained winds had

Hurricane Nicole has now been active for almost two weeks. Nicole was still a hurricane with winds of about 70 kts (81 mph) when the GPM core observatory satellite flew over on October 17, 2016 at 0436 UTC (2:36 am EDT). The GPM satellite had a good look at the rainfall in Nicole's large ragged eye. GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) swath sliced through the center of Nicole's eye and found some very heavy rainfall. A few strong storms in the southern side of the eye were dropping rain at a rate of over 113 mm (4.4 inches) per hour. GPM's radar (DPR KU band) data collected with

While powerful Hurricane Matthew drew a lot of attention as it made its way through the northern Caribbean and the Bahamas before ravaging the US East Coast with strong winds and massive flooding, another storm was lurking nearby in the western Atlantic--Nicole. Nicole, which like Matthew, also originated from a tropical wave that made its way across the central Atlantic from the coast of Africa. Nicole first became a tropical storm on the morning of the 4th of October about 525 miles northeast of San Juan Puerto Rico just after Matthew, a powerful Category 4 storm at the time, had devastated

Hurricane Matthew devastated western Haiti and killed over 1,000 people. Matthew also took the lives of at least 37 deaths in the United States with 18 deaths occurring in the state of North Carolina. Flooding is still widespread in North Carolina. Some rivers in North Carolina such as the Tar and the Neuse are still rising. This rainfall analysis was accomplished using data from NASA's Integrated Multi-satelliE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). IMERG is a unified U.S. algorithm that provides a multi-satellite precipitation product. IMERG is run twice in near-real time with the “Early” multi

Matthew began as a fairly impressive tropical wave that emerged off of the coast of Africa on the 23rd of September but had to make its way all the way across the Central Atlantic before finally organizing into a tropical storm on the morning of the 28th while passing through the Windward Islands. Matthew then slowly but steadily intensified into a minimal hurricane by the early afternoon of the following day as it continued to track westward through the central eastern Caribbean. The next day, September 30th, Matthew underwent a period of rapid intensification; its winds increased in