Hurricane Gustav on August 31, 2008

  • Released Monday, September 1, 2008
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NASA's TRMM spacecraft observed this view of Hurricane Gustav on August 31, 2008 as the Gulf Coast braces for the worst. At this time the storm was a category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 100 knots (115 mph) and a pressure reading of 957 millibars. The cloud cover is taken by TRMM's Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) and the GOES spacecraft. The rain structure is taken by TRMM's Tropical Microwave Imager (TMI) and TRMM's Precitation Radar (PR) instruments. TRMM looks underneath of the storm's clouds to reveal the underlying rain structure. Blue represents areas with at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. Green shows at least 0.5 inches of rain per hour. Yellow is at least 1.0 inches of rain and red is at least 2.0 inches of rain per hour.

This animation shows the very dangerous Hurricane Gustav on August 31, 2008.

Under the clouds is the rain that fuels this storm. The rain is colored according to the height of the clouds. 10 km convective clouds are colored red with lowered clouds colored orange to blue.

Under the clouds is the rain that fuels this storm. The rain is colored according to the height of the clouds. 10 km convective clouds are colored red with lowered clouds colored orange to blue.

The rainbands are not symmetrical near the eyewall. This storm is weakening.

The rainbands are not symmetrical near the eyewall. This storm is weakening.

Hurricane Gustav dumps rain across the entire Gulf Coast Region. This storm is bringing hurricane force winds across over 70 miles.

Hurricane Gustav dumps rain across the entire Gulf Coast Region. This storm is bringing hurricane force winds across over 70 miles.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Monday, September 1, 2008.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:55 PM EDT.

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