TRMM captured this image of a long line of strong storms associated with an advancing cold front stretching from southwest Alabama up through the central part of the state and into northern Georgia. The image was taken at 16:22 UTC (10:22 am CDT) 30 January 2013 and shows an instantaneous snap shot of the rain intensities within the storms as seen from above by TRMM. Rain rates in the center of the swath are from the TRMM PR, while those in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS). TRMM shows a broken line of active storm cells identified by areas of heavy to intense rain (shown in red and purple) extending from southwestern Alabama all the way up into northwestern Georgia followed by a broad area of trailing light rain (shown in blue). There were several tornado reports near the time of this image (the locations are shown by the red tornado symbols in the image). One person was killed by a tornado at almost the exact time of this image in Bartow county in northwest Georgia northwest of Atlanta where a large tornado passed near the town of Adairsville.

 

These reports are associated with the cell located just north of the PR swath (shown in orange). Only several minutes later 8 people were reported injured by a tornado in Gordon county, located just north of Bartow county. A total of 17 people were reportedly injured by torndoes in Georgia. The fatality ends a record period of over 200 consecutive days without a tornado fatality in the US. Last year there were two tornado fatalities reported in the month of January and none in the prior two years. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).