Meteosat-9 IR images
Meteosat-9 IR images from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (above) showed that Hurricane Fred began to exhibit a well-defined eye as it rapidly intensified to a Category 3 storm on 09 September 2009. As noted in the National Hurricane Center discussion:
IT IS QUITE UNUSUAL TO HAVE SUCH A POWERFUL SYSTEM SO FAR EAST IN THE BASIN AND FRED IS ONLY THE THIRD MAJOR HURRICANE NOTED EAST OF 35W IN THE TROPICAL ATLANTIC OCEAN...AND THE STRONGEST HURRICANE SO FAR SOUTH AND EAST IN OUR DATA RECORD. THIS TYPE OF SYSTEM... HOWEVER...WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY DIFFICULT TO ACCURATELY OBSERVE BEFORE SATELLITE PICTURES BEGAN IN THE 1960S.
Terra MODIS visible image
At 12:50 UTC, a “transverse banding” structure was seen on the cold cloud tops surrounding the western periphery of the eyewall region on the Terra MODIS visible image (above) and the 11.0 µm Terra MODIS IR image (below). MODIS IR brightness temperatures were as cold as -74º C within the transverse bands.
Terra MODIS 11.0 µm IR image
Fred was not expected to undergo much more in the way of intensification, since the cyclone was moving toward increasing values of environmental wind shear and warmer sea surface temperatures (below).
Meteosat-9 IR image with CIMSS wind shear analysis
Hurricane Fred forecast track + Sea Surface Temperature analysis
