GPM

Last week Tasmanian's were evacuated, businesses were flooded and cars washed away as extreme rainfall accompanied a strong cold front and a low pressure system that spawned violent storms. Hobart city, located in southeastern Tasmania, received record breaking rainfall of more than 100 mm (3.93 inches) in a single day. A strong pressure gradient developed between the complex low pressure center over Tasmania and high pressure that was moving eastward over the Great Australian Bight (Southern Ocean). This strong pressure gradient resulted in destructively high south-easterly winds over

The STORM Swath-Based Analysis Tool ( https://storm.pps.eosdis.nasa.gov/storm/Analysis.jsp) is a better way to explore and order targeted Level 2 data. Select one or more instruments from a list going back to the beginning of the TRMM mission, provide a date range, and input a geographic region of interest. Once you hit "Get Granules for Chart," a graph will appear and data points will begin to display. These points represent the mean precipitation rate value for all of the pixels for that orbit of that instrument over that geographic region. Once the graph loading is paused or complete

This past week, something rather unusual happened off the coast of Chile: a rare subtropical storm formed in the Southeast Pacific Ocean. Cyclone season is winding down in the Southwest Pacific near Australia where it is common for several tropical storms to form every year, but in the Southeast Pacific tropical storms are unheard of. This particular storm is a subtropical storm, which is a sort of a hybrid between a tropical cyclone like a hurricane, which gets it energy primarily from the condensation of humid air that forms over warm ocean waters, and an extratropical storm, which has a

The Eastern Pacific hurricane season officially starts on May 15, 2018. A low pressure center located well to the southwest of the Baja California Peninsula may develop into this area's first tropical cyclone of 2018. Low vertical wind shear and warm ocean temperatures in the vicinity of the low are providing favorable conditions for this low's development into a tropical cyclone. If it develops it will be called Aletta. The GPM core observatory satellite passed over the center of the most intense convective storms in this potential tropical cyclone. Rainfall data collected by GPM's satellite

Heavy seasonal rainfall has recently caused flooding in Kenya resulting in displacement of over 244,000. This deluge follows the severe drought that afflicted East Africa in 2017. The estimated death toll from flooding and mudslides has recently been increased to about 100 people. Rainfall accumulation estimates from NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) data are shown here for the period from April 27 to early May 4, 2018. During this period heavy seasonal precipitation fell over Kenya. Rainfall totals in some areas near the Indian Ocean coast were estimated by IMERG to

Until yesterday tornado alley was experiencing a drought of spring tornadoes. The eighteen tornadoes reported in the area yesterday may be a sign of things to come. Moisture laden air from the Gulf Of Mexico is having a more normal interaction with dry air flowing from the desert south-western states (dry line). Wind speed and wind direction change (shear) with height results in thunderstorms that spawn rotation and tornadoes. The GPM core observatory satellite passed over tornado alley in the early morning of May 1, 2018 at 6:28 AM CDT (11:38 UTC). Tornadoes were not observed until the

Tropical cyclone FLAMBOYAN formed in the middle of the South Indian Ocean well to the west of Australia on April 28, 2018. Today FLAMBOYAN's wind speeds have increased to about 70 kts (81 mph) as the tropical cyclone curved toward the south-southwest around the subtropical ridge. The Joint Typhoon Warning center (JTWC) predicts that FLAMBOYAN will start weakening soon as it moves even farther to the south and encounters increasing vertical wind shear and colder ocean temperatures. The GPM core observatory satellite had a good view of the rainfall in tropical cyclone FLAMBOYAN when it flew over

An upper level low generated stormy weather for a few days as it moved through the southeastern Mediterranean. Heavy rainfall in these storms resulted in deadly flash floods that killed ten teenagers in southern Israel. The GPM core observatory satellite passed above intense storms that were moving through the eastern Mediterranean on April 25, 2018 at 1409 UTC (4:09 PM IST). Data collected by the satellite's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments revealed the location of heavy rainfall that was approaching Israel. GPM's radar (DPR Ku Band) measured

The southwest Indian Ocean cyclone season started on November 15, 2017 and will officially end on April 30, 2018. A tropical cyclone labeled FAKIR by Meteo France formed today near northeastern Madagascar. FAKIR is expected to intensify as it moves toward the southeast and could be a significant tropical cyclone tomorrow. This cyclone season has already seen Madagascar battered and drenched by tropical cyclones Ava, Dumazile, and Eliakim. The GPM core observatory satellite flew above the forming late season tropical cyclone near northeastern Madagascar on April 22, 2018. The satellite's