GPM Shows Hurricane Maria North Of Turks And Caicos Islands

GPM Shows Hurricane Maria North Of Turks And Caicos Islands

On September 23, 2017 at 8:12 AM AST (1212 UTC) the GPM core observatory satellite had another excellent view of hurricane Maria. The early morning view showed Maria heading north of the Bahamas after battering the Turks and Caicos Islands. Maria had maximum sustained wind speeds of about 121mph (105 kts). Estimates of hourly rainfall at the ocean's surface were derived from GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) data. Multiple intense rainfall bands are shown rotating around the western side of the hurricane. Rain was found falling at a rate of over 6.57 inches (137 mm) on the western side of hurricane Maria by GPM's Radar (DPR Ku Band).

GPM Shows Hurricane Maria North Of Turks And Caicos Islands

GPM's Radar scanned precipitation on the western side of hurricane Maria. Those data were used to show a 3-D cross-section of precipitation structure on that side of the hurricane. Some thunderstorm tops in these rain bands were found to reach heights above 9.7 miles (15.7 km).

Hurricane Maria is predicted to move northward and parallel the east coast of the United States this week. Maria is expected to cause high ocean swells and rip currents as the hurricane moves past the coastline.

GPM hurricane animation

Images and caption by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC)