NASA Looks Twice at Former Hurricane Odile's Rainfall

The Global Precipitation Measurement or GPM mission observatory analyzed rainfall rates on Hurricane Odile as it made landfall in Mexico. NOAA's GOES-West satellite tracked the rainy remnants over the southern U.S. three days later where flood advisories were issued on September 18.

NASA-JAXA's GPM Satellite Captures Hurricane Odile's Rainfall

On September 15, 2014 the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's Core Observatory flew over Hurricane Odile as it made landfall on the Baja peninsula. At this point, Hurricane Odile is category 2 with maximum sustained winds at 98 miles per hour (mph) and gusts reaching 121 mph. Odile caused major damage to several Mexican beach resorts including Cabo San Lucas, and has the potential to cause flash flooding as far as Phoenix, Arizona.

The GPM Core Observatory carries two instruments that show the location and intensity of rain and snow, which defines a crucial part of the storm structure – and how it will behave. The GPM Microwave Imager sees through the tops of clouds to observe how much and where precipitation occurs, and the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar observes precise details of precipitation in 3-dimensions.

For forecasters, GPM's microwave and radar data are part of the toolbox of satellite data, including other low Earth orbit and geostationary satellites that they use to monitor tropical cyclones and hurricanes.

The addition of GPM data to the current suite of satellite data is timely. Its predecessor precipitation satellite, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, is 18 years into what was originally a three-year mission. GPM's new high-resolution microwave imager data and the unique radar data ensure that forecasters and modelers won't have a gap in coverage. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. All GPM data products can be found at NASA Goddard's Precipitation Processing Center website.

NOAA's GOES-West Sees Odile's Rainy Remnants Over Southwestern U.S.

As Odile weakened, it moved north into the southwestern U.S. where it was on September 18. NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured an image of the clouds associated with the remnant low pressure area that has triggered flood and flash flood watches, warnings and advisories for east central and southeastern Arizona, the southern half of New Mexico and portions of extreme western Texas.

The clouds associated with Odile's remnants covered the U.S. southwest in an image taken at 14:15 UTC (10:15 a.m. EDT) from NOAA's GOES-West satellite. The image was created by NASA/NOAA's GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center that the center of Odile on Sept. 18 at 4 a.m. EDT was located near latitude 31.5 north and longitude 110.0 west. Maximum sustained winds are near 25 mph (40 kph). The remnant circulation of Odile continues to move eastward across extreme southeastern Arizona.

Radar data on the ground has shown that rain is falling mostly east of the circulation center across southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico and western Texas. Some of the rainfall was moderate or heavy. Heavy rains are expected to reach eastern New Mexico by later today and the Texas Panhandle by early Friday morning.

The low-level circulation is expected to dissipate later in the day on Sept. 18, but the rain will continue through Friday.

For additional imagery of Hurricane Odile from the GPM satellite, visit:  http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=4213