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Moisture moves inland over the Carolinas as Hurricane Joaquin moves through the Bahamas

By Scott Lindstrom •

METOP ASCAT Scatterometer Winds, 1356 UTC 2 October and GOES-13 Visible (0.63 µm) imagery [click to enlarge]

METOP ASCAT Scatterometer Winds, 1356 UTC 2 October and GOES-13 Visible (0.63 µm) imagery [click to enlarge]

Hurricane Joaquin moved slowly through the eastern Bahamas on 1 and 2 October 2015. ASCAT data from 1356 UTC, above, shows rain-flagged values near 90 knots not far from the storm center (Joaquin is a potent Category 4 Hurricane; its strongest winds are confined to within about 50 miles of the center).

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water for the 72 hours ending 1900 UTC on 2 October [click to enlarge]

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water for the 72 hours ending 1900 UTC on 2 October [click to enlarge]

Joaquin is embedded within a very moisture-rich environment, and that tropical moisture will move inland over the Carolinas and surrounding states over the weekend and produce heavy rains. The animation of MIMIC Total Precipitable Water, above, shows a corridor of very high total precipitable water just offshore of the Carolinas at the end of the animation, ready to shift inland.

Water Vapor Imagery, below, shows a strong trough over the northern Gulf of Mexico. This trough is serving to move Joaquin out of the Bahamas, and it will also serve as a potent precipitation producer on the East Coast. Percent-of-Normal plots from NESDIS’s Blended Precipitable Water product shows a large region of nearly 200% of normal over South Carolina, and greater than 200% of normal over North Carolina and regions north and east. Flood Watches have been issued from northeast Georgia to southern New Jersey.

GOES-13 Water Vapor Infrared Imagery (6.5 µm) and NESDIS Percent-of-Normal Blended Total Precipitable Water Product, 1745 UTC 2 October 2015 [click to enlarge]

GOES-13 Water Vapor Infrared Imagery (6.5 µm) and NESDIS Percent-of-Normal Blended Total Precipitable Water Product, 1745 UTC 2 October 2015 [click to enlarge]

For the latest information on Joaquin, consult the National Hurricane Center. Additional information is available at the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site, and in a previous Blog Post.

Categories: GOES-13, Heavy rain / flooding, Other Satellites, Tropical cyclones