Tropical Storm Katrina had just become the eleventh named storm ofthe 2005 Atlantic Hurricane season when the Moderate ResolutionImaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image on August24, 2005, at 11:50 a.m., Eastern Daylight Savings Time. The stormformed late on August 23 and developed quickly into a tropicalstorm by 11 a.m. the next morning. By the time MODIS acquired thisimage, the storm was just starting to take the recognizableswirling shape of a hurricane. Katrina had winds of 64 kilometersper hour (40 miles per hour) and was expected to get stronger as itapproached the south Florida coast, possibly becoming a Category 1hurricane before coming ashore.
A more serious danger is Katrina’s rains. The storm ismoving slowly, just 13 km/hr (8 mph), and it is expected to slow as itmoves over land. This means that Katrina’s heavy rains willlinger longer over one area, dumping 15-25 centimeters (6-10inches) of rain over Florida and the Bahamas and possibly up to 38cm (15 inches) in some regions, the National Hurricane Centerwarns.
For more information about the storm, please visit the National Hurricane Center. Thisimage is available in multiple resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response Team.
References & Resources
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
