As November draws to a close, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-East satellite is busy keeping an eye on the 17th storm of the season.
The 2024 hurricane season started out quiet in the Atlantic, but things have gotten pretty wild lately. Two previous storms, Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helen, caused billions in damage and claimed hundreds of lives across the southeastern United States in September and October. The most recent storm, Hurricane Rafael, began developing in late October and is now further developing into the rainforest as we head into November. It strengthened into a hurricane on November 5th.
The storm will move northwest just west of Jamaica over the next few days, setting its sights on Cuba. Rafael continued to strengthen in the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea, reaching hurricane status on November 6 and making landfall in Cuba’s Artemisa province as a major Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 kilometers per hour). . With even stronger gusts of wind.
In the attached image taken by NOAA GOES-East satellite, See in high resolution and vivid detail the powerful and massive storms that hit eastern Caribbean islands. Thanks to this next generation weather satelliteallowing forecasters to closely monitor the storm every step of the way.
.@NOAA’s #GOESEast satellite captured Hurricane #Rafael making landfall in Cuba’s Artemisa province early today. Latest: https://t.co/ScLdyBaJZb pic.twitter.com/0lKiLRUKijNovember 7, 2024
GOES-EAST is equipped with a variety of products and tools to provide different perspectives of the storm and record its development in detail. One of the key pieces of equipment that forecasters use to better understand storms is the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). The ABI instrument is ahead of previous GOES satellites in detailed analysis of storms, delivering three times more spectral information, four times more spatial resolution, and five times faster.
There is a total 16 different channels Contains two visible, four near-infrared, and ten infrared (or bands). In the image above, ABI band #2 (shown) is used for monitoring. cloud At high resolution, it is used in conjunction with ABI #13 (infrared) to display the vertical profile of the storm, including temperature and humidity profiles. Using each channel individually or in conjunction with others, forecasters can better understand how a storm will form, move, and intensify during its lifetime. I can figure it out.
Rafael is expected to weaken, remain in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend, and turn south toward Mexico next week, according to the current projected track from NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (NHC). For the latest information on Rafael, please see the latest information below. National Hurricane Center website.
