Extreme Weather

A slow-moving frontal boundary draped across the central US from the Central Plains across the Middle Mississippi and Ohio Valleys and into the Mid-Atlantic region has been providing the focus for numerous showers and thunderstorms the past few days while an associated East-West oriented, upper-level jet stream located near the front has helped to organize and strengthen the storms. This has lead to severe weather and flooding across the region. The latest episode began when thunderstorms formed and organized into a line across northern Illinois and southern Lake Michigan on the evening of

Tropical Storm Danielle started weakening after making landfall north of Tuxpan, Mexico on Monday evening just before June 21, 2016 at 0000 UTC (June 20, 2016 7:00 PM CDT). As Danielle weakened the low level circulation quickly became disorganized. The GPM core observatory satellite passed above rapidly weakening Danielle on June 21, 2016 at 0421Z (June 20, 2016 11:21 PM CDT). The approximate center of Danielle's circulation at the time of this GPM pass is shown with a red tropical storm symbol. A rainfall analysis from GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR)

A tropical depression (TD4) in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico was designated tropical storm Danielle by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) this morning at 1500 UTC (1000 AM CDT). Danielle is the earliest fourth-named tropical storm to form in the Atlantic Basin. Danielle's life as a tropical storm is predicted to be short because it is moving almost due west and is predicted to move over the east coast of Mexico later today or tonight. Heavy rainfall is expected to cause flash floods and mudslides over eastern Mexico over the next few days. The GPM core observatory satellite flew above the

On June 8 the nodal weather agency of India (IMD) declared the arrival of the 2016 Southwest Monsoon over the Indian state of Kerala. This season is expected to be rainier than recent years. The El Nino conditions which have been blamed for recent disappointing monsoons has weakened to ENSO-neutral conditions. ENSO-neutral conditions are expected to transition to La Nina in the northern hemisphere by the fall and winter of 2016-17. La Nina conditions normally result in beneficial wetter and cooler monsoons in India. An animation of weekly rainfall totals was derived from NASA's Integrated

In June 2016, a slow-moving weather system unleashed several days of heavy downpours on western Europe, pushing the Seine River to heights not seen in 34 years. With the Seine’s water levels 6.1 meters (20 feet) above normal in Paris, flood waters knocked out electricity for thousands of people, interrupted road and rail traffic, shut down schools, and caused an estimated 1 billion euros of damage. During the worst of the flooding, the world’s most visited museum, the Louvre, closed as employees scrambled to move artwork out of basement areas that were at risk of flooding. The map above

Earlier this week the Governor of Florida declared a state of emergency as tropical storm Colin moved over the state. In just a few days heavy rainfall from the tropical storm spread from Florida's Gulf Coast through Georgia to the North Carolina coastline. Street flooding was common in Florida. Severe flooding was not reported but over 250 mm (10 inches) of rain was reported in some areas. Two tornadoes and a water spout reported in Florida on Monday June 6, 2016 were an example of the unstable weather accompanying the tropical storm. Data from NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for

Although hurricane season officially begins on June 1st, we already have the 3rd named storm of the season with the arrival of Tropical Storm Colin, which formed yesterday at 21:30 UTC (4:30 pm CDT) in the southern Gulf of Mexico about 120 miles north of the Yucatan Peninsula. Colin originated from a wave of low pressure that propagated across the tropical Atlantic and northern coast of South America and into the southern Caribbean. As thunderstorm activity picked up, the wave slowly organized into an area of low pressure as it turned northward and passed over the Yucatan. After entering the

The GPM core Observatory had another good look at revived tropical Depression Bonnie on June 3, 2016 at 0716 UTC (3:16 AM EDT). Rainfall calculated from data received by GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments are shown in the first image. Those instruments found that Bonnie was dropping rain at a rate of over 65 mm (2.6 inches) per hour in storms south of the depression's center of circulation. GPM's Radar (DPR Ku Band) again measured the 3-D structure of rainfall within Bonnie and found that some storms were reaching heights of over 13 km (8

Continuing heavy rain has resulted in dangerous flooding conditions from Oklahoma through eastern Texas. The Brazos, Trinity and Colorado Rivers in Southeastern Texas are at or above flood stage. Flooding resulted in the deaths of at least 6 people in Texas during the past week. Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster in 31 Texas counties. Over 20 inches of rainfall were reported in some areas since May 30, 2016. Parts of Georgia and the Carolinas were flooded by very slow moving tropical depression Bonnie. This estimate of rainfall totals from May 27, 2016 to June 2, 2016 was made

Tropical storm Bonnie weakened to a tropical depression on May 29, 2016. The circulation was labeled as "Post-Tropical" and has been moving very slowly to the northeast near the Carolinas coastline. Bonnie developed organized convection near the center and the system has again been labeled a tropical depression. The GPM core observatory satellite saw Tropical Depression Bonnie on June 1, 2016 at 2226 UTC (6:26 PM EDT). GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments measured precipitation in a few powerful convective thunderstorms falling at a rate of