Extreme Weather

Extreme weather news and updates.

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

Reviving Tropical Storm Harvey's Remnants Observed By GPM

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded the remnants of tropical storm Harvey to a tropical Depression on August 23, 2017 at 10:00 AM CDT (1500 UTC). Harvey became better organized and was revived after moving from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula into the Bay of Campeche. The warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and favorable vertical wind shear promoted the regeneration of the tropical cyclone. The GPM core observatory satellite flew over the regenerating tropical cyclone on August 23, 2017 at 6:58 AM CDT (1158 UTC). Data collected by GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation

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

Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine Viewed By GPM

On Thursday August 17, 2017 at 1100 AM AST (1500 UTC) the National Hurricane Center (NHC) called a stormy area of low pressure east of the Antilles "Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine". The GPM core observatory satellite flew above this area of disturbed weather earlier at 6:58 AM AST (1058 UTC). GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) data were used to examine the coverage and intensity of rainfall around the potential tropical cyclone. The center of the heaviest rainfall was located in GPM's GMI swath. Rain in that area was found by GMI to be falling at a rate

GPM Sees New Tropical Storm Harvey

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded a tropical disturbance that they were monitoring east of the Lesser Antilles to Tropical storm Harvey on August 17, 2017 at 5:00 PM EDT (2100 UTC). The GPM core observatory satellite flew over newly designated tropical storm Harvey on August 17, 2017 at 6:21 PM EDT (2221 UTC). Easterly vertical wind shear was causing the strongest convection to be pushed to the west of the tropical storm's center of circulation. GPM's Microwave Imager and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) found that some of these strong convective storms were dropping very

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

Deadly Southern Asia Flooding Rainfall Measured By NASA's IMERG

Deaths of over 250 people have resulted from extremely heavy monsoon rainfall in parts of northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The death toll from flooding and landslides is expected to continue increasing. Heavy monsoon rainfall is normal in southern Asia this time of year but precipitation totals this year are higher than expected. Recent heavy rainfall is also causing the Brahmaputra and Ganges Rivers rivers to continue rising. This rainfall analysis over southern Asia was created using IMERG real time data covering the period from August 10-16, 2017. Total rainfall IMERG estimates of over

Tropical Storm 14W Examined By The GPM Satellite

Tropical storm 14W formed in a remote area of the western Pacific Ocean southeast of Wake Island on August 11, 2017. The GPM core observatory satellite flew above the center of the newly formed tropical storm on August 11, 2017 at 0902 UTC. The "core" satellite carries advanced radar and radiometer systems that measure precipitation from space and serves as a standard that is used to unify precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational satellites. Tropical storm 14W was revealed by GPM to be small but well organized with very intense convective storms near the