NASA/JAXA GPM Satellite Eyes Eta Over Florida

Tropical Storm Eta over the Florida west coast on November 11, 2020 at approximately 9:11 EST (14:11Z). Color bar for frozen precipitation rates (ie, snow rates). Shades of cyan represent low amounts of frozen precipitation, whereas shades of purple represent high amounts of precipitation. Color bar for liquid precipitation rates (ie, rain rates). Shades of green represent low amounts of liquid precipitation, whereas shades of red represent high amounts of precipitation. After a long and meandering journey over Central America, across central Cuba, and through the Florida Keys, Eta, the 28th named storm and 12th hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, wound up nearly stationary as a moderate tropical storm in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico just north of the western tip of Cuba on the morning of November 10th. Before long however, a deep layer trough located over the western third of the US began to shift eastward, and by the afternoon of the 10th, it started to pull Eta back towards the north and the west coast of the Florida peninsula. As it did so, a combination of warm waters and northwesterly wind shear meant that Eta essentially maintained its intensity as a moderate tropical storm. But by the evening of the 10th, as the northwesterly wind shear abated, Eta began to strengthen, becoming a strong tropical storm overnight. At 7:35 a.m. EST on the morning of November 11, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Eta had once again become a hurricane.It was just after this time that the NASA / JAXA GPM Core Observatory satellite flew over Eta once again, after having observed the storm over Nicaragua on November 3 and the Florida Keys on November 8. The above animation shows yet another detailed look into Eta's precipitation courtesy of GPM, which overflew the storm at 9:11 a.m. EST (14:11 UTC) on November 11.Rainfall rates derived from the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) show all of Eta’s heavy rainbands (in red and orange) wrapping around mainly the eastern and northern sides of the storm. Tall cloud towers associated with areas of deep convection (in blue), where the DPR detected frozen precipitation particles extending upward within these thunderstorms, are located north and east of the center. Eta’s overall asymmetric structure is consistent with a storm still in the process of maturing.However, Eta would not be a hurricane for long, as dry air weakened Eta back to a tropical storm by the early afternoon. The combination of increasing wind shear, cooler waters and Eta’s close proximity to land meant that Eta made landfall as a moderate tropical storm with sustained winds reported at 50 mph by National Hurricane Center (NHC) when it crossed the Florida coast near Cedar Key around 4:00 a.m. EST on November 12.At the time of GPM's overpass, Eta was a low-strength hurricane with maximum sustained winds reported at 75 mph by NHC.GPM data is archived at https://pps.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Related pages

Hurricane Eta (a Category 1) over Nicaragua on 11/4/2020 at approximately 5:25Z. This visualization focuses on the high precipitation southwest of Eta's eye. Hurricane Eta (a Category 1) on 11/4/2020 at approximately 5:25Z. This visualization focuses on the disperse outer bands northeast of the eye. Color bar for frozen precipitation rates (ie, snow rates). Shades of cyan represent low amounts of frozen precipitation, whereas shades of purple represent high amounts of precipitation. Color bar for liquid precipitation rates (ie, rain rates). Shades of green represent low amounts of liquid precipitation, whereas shades of red represent high amounts of precipitation. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory satellite flew over Hurricane Eta at 11:41 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Nov. 3 (0541 UTC Wednesday, Nov. 4). GPM observed the storm’s rainfall with its two unique science instruments: the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR). As the visualization shows, the instruments observed a large swath of heavy precipitation extending to the north and east of the hurricane’s center, which matched earlier forecasts that called for particularly heavy rainfall across the storm’s path.These two- and three-dimensional observations of precipitation structure are the hallmark of the GPM mission – managed jointly by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) -- which aims improve our understanding of the water cycle and extreme weather events, and contributes to improved climate modeling and weather forecasting around the world. These visualizations depict the GPM satellite pass about seven hours after Hurricane Eta made landfall on the coast of Nicaragua as a category 4 storm. Current NHC forecasts indicate Eta will move northwest over Central America then head northeast across the Caribbean Sea, threatening Cuba and Florida early next week.Eta is the 28th named storm of 2020 which beats the 2005 record for the most named storms in a single hurricane season. (See 27 Storms: Arlene to Zeta for a summary of the 2005 hurricane season).GPM data is archived at https://pps.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Related pages