Extreme Weather News

The GPM Core Observatory satellite flew directly above a forming tropical cyclone in the Timor Sea northeast of Darwin, Australia on April 10, 2017 at 1146 UTC. Data collected by GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments showed that convective storms within the tropical low contained very heavy rainfall. GPM's DPR (Ku Band) data revealed that a line of intense storms west of the Bathurst and Melville islands was dropping rain at a rate of over 161 mm (6.3 inches) per hour. A 3-D examination of the forming tropical cyclone's cloud tops showed that

Late Friday night and Saturday morning flash flooding and mudslides killed over 250 people in Mocoa, Colombia. Extremely intense storms added heavy rain to water logged terrain around Mocoa. Water from this heavy rainfall converged into a river that runs close to Mocoa causing it to overflow it's banks with deadly results. Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals (IMERG) data were used to estimate the amount of rain that fell near Mocoa, Colombia during the seven day period from March 26 to April 2, 2017. IMERG indicates that area rainfall totals during the week were frequently greater than 80 mm

Tropical cyclone Caleb formed today in the South Indian Ocean southwest of the Indonesian Island of Sumatra. The GPM core observatory satellite had a fairly good view of the the newly formed tropical cyclone when it flew over on March 23, 2017 at 0756 UTC. The satellite's Microwave Imager (GMI) revealed the locations of rainfall within the tropical cyclone. Rainfall measurements derived from the GMI showed that convective storms's were dropping rain at a rate of almost 84 mm (3.3 inches) per hour on Caleb's eastern side. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) predicts that tropical cyclone

This year unusually heavy rainfall has caused extensive flooding and loss of life in Peru. Extreme flooding and frequent landslides that occurred this month have forced many from their homes. An El Niño like condition with warm ocean waters developed near Peru's coast. This extremely warm water off Peru's western coast has been blamed for promoting the development of these storms. Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are about average elsewhere in the central and east central Pacific. This image shows the locations of storms that were dropping heavy rainfall over northwestern Peru when