Tag: Nadine 2018

Oct. 12, 2018 – Satellite Finds Wind Shear Battering Tropical Storm Nadine

Tropical Storm Nadine continues to be battered by vertical wind shear, winds that can tear a tropical cyclone apart.  NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible image that showed the bulk of Nadine’s clouds were pushed northeast of the center.

Suomi NPP passed over Nadine on Oct. 11 and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument provided a visible image of the storm. The VIIRS image showed that Nadine appeared devoid of rainfall except in the northeastern quadrant. Southwesterly wind shear had pushed the bulk of clouds and showers east of its center. Clouds around the center appeared as a wispy swirl.

In general, wind shear is a measure of how the speed and direction of winds change with altitude. Tropical cyclones are like rotating cylinders of winds. Each level needs to be stacked on top each other vertically in order for the storm to maintain strength or intensify. Wind shear occurs when winds at different levels of the atmosphere push against the rotating cylinder of winds, weakening the rotation by pushing it apart at different levels.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Nadine was located near latitude 16.0 degrees north and longitude 36.2 degrees west. Nadine is moving toward the west-northwest near 8 mph (13 kph). A west-northwestward to westward motion with an increase in forward speed is expected through the weekend. Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 45 mph (75 kph) with higher gusts. Weakening is forecast during the next couple of days, and Nadine is expected to dissipate by Sunday.

By Rob Gutro 
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Oct. 11, 2018 – NASA Finds Wind Shear Weakening Tropical Storm Nadine

Wind shear is an adversary of tropical cyclones like Tropical Storm Nadine, and it is tearing the storm apart in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean. NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite captured an image of Nadine as wind shear was affecting it.

NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite provided a visible image of Tropical Storm Nadine on Oct. 10 as it was being affected by wind shear. The image showed that clouds were being pushed northeast of the center. Satellite data shows that Nadine is strongly sheared and the low-level center of the tropical storm is now completely exposed, nearly 50 nautical miles to the southwest of the nearest deep convection (rising air that forms the thunderstorms that make up a tropical cyclone).

In general, wind shear is a measure of how the speed and direction of winds change with altitude. In order to understand how it affects a tropical cyclone or hurricane, think of a tropical cyclone as a vertical rotating cylinder. The different levels of rotating winds in the center of Tropical cyclones need to be stacked on top each other for the storm to strengthen. If there are outside winds pushing against the cylinder near the top, it affects the balance of the entire cylinder and that’s what happens when vertical wind shear pushes against a storm. It pushes the center and weakens (or wobbles) the rotation of the entire cylinder (storm).

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on Oct. 11, the National Hurricane Center reported the center of Tropical Storm Nadine was located near latitude 14.1 degrees north and longitude 34.0 degrees west. That’s about 645 miles (1,035 km) west of the southernmost Cabo Verde Islands. Nadine is moving toward the northwest near 8 mph (13 kph). A turn toward the west-northwest with a similar forward speed is expected later today, followed by a turn toward the west by the weekend. Maximum sustained winds are near 60 mph (95 kph) with higher gusts. Some weakening is forecast during the next 48 hours. Gradual weakening is expected during the next couple of days, and Nadine is forecast to degenerate into a trough of low pressure over the weekend.

The wind shear battering Nadine isn’t expected to let up over the next couple of days so forecasters at the National Hurricane Center expect steady weakening. By Oct. 14, Nadine is forecast to lose its strong uplift and thunderstorm development potential. By that time, Nadine is expected to degenerate into an elongated area of low pressure.

For updated forecasts from the NHC, visit: www.nhc.noaa.gov

By Rob Gutro
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Oct. 10, 2018 – NASA Finds Nadine a Compact Tropical Storm

NASA’s Aqua satellite provided a visible image of Tropical Storm Nadine in the Eastern Atlantic that revealed it was a compact storm.

At 8:15 a.m. EDT (1215 UTC) on Oct. 10 the MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite obtained a visible light image of Tropical Storm Nadine that showed a small storm with clouds tightly circling the center. The National Hurricane Center or NHC noted that tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles (130 km) from the center. That makes the storm about 160 miles (260 km) in diameter.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Nadine was located near latitude 12.6 degrees north and longitude 31.6 degrees west. That’s about 505 miles (815 km) west-southwest of the southernmost Cabo Verde Islands. Nadine is moving toward the northwest near 7 mph (11 kph), and a northwest to north-northwest motion is expected during the next couple of days. A turn toward the west-northwest is forecast to occur on Friday. Maximum sustained winds are near 65 mph (100 kph) with higher gusts.

Little change in strength is anticipated today, with weakening likely by tomorrow.  Nadine is forecast to dissipate over the weekend.

For updated forecasts, visit: www.nhc.noaa.gov

By Rob Gutro
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Oct. 09, 2018 – NASA Sees the Development of Eastern Atlantic Tropical Storm Nadine

As Hurricane Michael barrels toward the U.S. states along the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, and Tropical Storm Leslie lingers in the Central Atlantic, Tropical Storm Nadine has formed off the west coast of Africa in the far eastern Atlantic. NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite provided a visible image of the new named storm.

On Oct. 9, the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA-NOAA’s Suomi satellite provided a visible look at Tropical Storm Nadine. The bulk of storms were east to south of center and wrapping into the low-level center.

NOAA’s National Hurricane Center noted st 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on Oct. 9 the center of Tropical Storm Nadine was located near latitude 10.5 North, longitude 30.0 West. That’s about 480 miles (770 km) southwest of the southernmost Cabo Verde Islands. Nadine is moving toward the west-northwest near 9 mph (15 kph), and this motion is expected to continue through tonight. A motion toward the northwest at a similar forward speed is forecast on Wednesday, Oct. 10 through Friday, Oct. 12. Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 40 mph (65 kph) with higher gusts.

The National Hurricane Center noted that additional strengthening is forecast through Wednesday, with weakening expected to begin by early Thursday. Nadine is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression on Friday.

For updated forecasts, visit: www.nhc.noaa.gov

By Rob Gutro
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center