GPM Sees Tropical Storm Hector Forming
Tropical storm Hector was forming in the eastern Pacific Ocean southwest of Mexico when the GPM core observatory satellite passed over on July 31, 2018 at 1:40 PM PDT (2040 UTC). Hector's maximum sustained winds at that time were estimated to be about 30 kts (34.5 mph). Powerful convective storms were wrapping around the western side of the deepening tropical low's center of circulation. GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instrument collected data showing that rain in some of these storms was falling at a rate of almost 198 mm (7.8 inches) per hour. The GPM satellite's radar data