Tropical depression 18E, located southwest of Mexico, became tropical storm Rachel on September 24, 2014 at 1500 UTC (8 PM PDT). The TRMM satellite had a good view of Rachel when it flew over early today at 0608 UTC (September 25, 2014 at 11:08 PM PDT). A precipitation analysis that used TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) data is shown overlaid on a 0600Z GOES-WEST enhanced infrared image. This image shows that, due to northeasterly wind shear, convective precipitation was located southwest of of Rachel's center of circulation. The heaviest rain was shown falling at a rate of over 50mm (amost 2

Tropical cyclones have continued to form in the eastern Pacific Ocean at a faster rate than last year. This morning at 8 AM PDT (1500 UTC) a low pressure center south of Mexico was upgraded to a tropical depression (18E). The TRMM satellite crossed over the forming tropical depression on September 23, 2014 at 0729 UTC (00:20 AM PDT). TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) instrument found that rain was falling at a rate of almost 61 mm (2.4 inches) per hour near the low's center of circulation. Radar reflectivity values of over 51 dBZ were analyzed in some heavy showers by TRMM PR. This simulated 3-D

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

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

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