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Hurricane Eta in the Caribbean Sea

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density) and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density) and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm), GLM Flash Extent Density and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed Hurricane Eta as it was rapidly intensifying from a Category 2 to a Category 4 storm on 02 November 2020. For a few hours there was notable lightning activity within the inner eyewall of Eta.

GOES-16 Longwave Infrared (11.2 µm) images, with contours of 02 UTC deep-layer wind shear from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) showed that the hurricane was moving through an environment of low shear, which favored intensification.

GOES-16 Longwave Infrared (11.2 µm) images, with contours of 18 UTC deep-layer wind shear [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Longwave Infrared (11.2 µm) images, with contours of 02 UTC deep-layer wind shear [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Infrared – Water Vapor Brightness Temperature Difference images (below) indicated that cloud tops within much of the central dense overcast surrounding the eye were likely above the local tropopause.

GOES-16 Infrared - Water Vapor Difference images [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Infrared – Water Vapor Difference images [click to enlarge]

===== 03 November Update =====

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (credit: William Straka, CIMSS) [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (credit: William Straka, CIMSS) [click to enlarge]

A toggle between NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (above) displayed Eta at 0729 UTC. Illumination from the Moon — in the Waning Gibbous phase, at 93% of Full — provided a distinct visible image at night.

Eta made landfall along the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane around 2100 UTC;1-minute GOES-16 Infrared and Visible images during the period 1000-2100 UTC (below) showed that the overall appearance of Eta had deteriorated somewhat compared to the previous day, with warming cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures and a cloud-filled eye. There was no GOES-16 GLM-detected lightning activity during those 11 hours leading up to landfall.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Categories: GLM, GOES-16, Lightning, NOAA-20, Satellite winds, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS