Lights Out in Michael’s Wake—Florida Panhandle
Hurricane Michael from VIIRS and GOES-16
Hurricane Michael made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida on October 10, 2018. Wind speeds were estimated to be 155 mph, which made the Category 4 hurricane the strongest on record to hit the Florida Panhandle. In April 2019 the National Hurricane Center announced that it had reclassified Michael as a Category 5 storm with 160-mph winds. The storm destroyed homes and knocked out electric power in the area. GOES–16 acquired data for the composite image (left) around 1:00 p.m. EDT on October 10.
After making landfall as a Category 5 storm, Michael knocked out power for at least 2.5 million customers in the southeastern United States. The first pair of images at night shows a natural view of nightlights from the VIIRS DNB on October 6 and October 12. The second pair of images is a data visualization of where lights went out in Panama City, Florida.
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Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA, Earth at Night book
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Graphic designer
- Kevin W. Miller (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
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Data visualizer
- Joshua Stevens (SSAI)
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Writer
- Mike Carlowicz (SSAI)
Release date
This page was originally published on Wednesday, February 12, 2020.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 12:43 AM EST.