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Hurricane Florence makes landfall in North Carolina

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with hourly plots of surface wind gusts in knots [click to play MP4 animation]

Hurricane Florence made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina at 1115 UTC (7:15 am EDT) with estimated maximum winds of 78 knots (90 mph) and a minimum central pressure estimate of 958 hPa (28.29″). Overlapping GOES-16 (GOES-East) Mesoscale Domain Sectors provided images every 30 seconds — “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (below) showed the storm as it slowly moved inland after sunrise. A peak wind gust of 105 mph was recorded at Wilmington NC (which is located at the center of the GOES-16 images); in northeastern North Carolina, winds gusted to 105 mph at Fort Macon and 112 mph at the New River Inlet Buoy.

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with hourly plots of wind gusts [click to play MP4 animation]

The MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product (below) showed abundant moisture associated with Florence moving inland during the 48-hour period ending at 23 UTC on 14 September.

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product [click to play animation | MP4]

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product [click to play animation | MP4]

Toggles between Visible and Infrared Window images from Terra/Aqua MODIS and Suomi NPP VIIRS are shown below.

Terra MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) and Infrared Window (11.0 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Terra MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) and Infrared Window (11.0 µm) images at 1620 UTC [click to enlarge]

Aqua MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) and Infrared Window (11.0 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Aqua MODIS Visible (0.65 µm) and Infrared Window (11.0 µm) images at 1801 UTC [click to enlarge]

Suomi NPP VIIRS Visible (0.64 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images at 1835 UTC [click to enlarge]

Suomi NPP VIIRS Visible (0.64 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images at 1835 UTC [click to enlarge]

Over the western Atlantic Ocean, strong winds associated with Florence created large waves which induced upwelling of colder water from below the ocean surface, as seen in Ocean Heat Content data (below).

Ocean Heat Content data from 14 September [click to enlarge]

Ocean Heat Content data from 14 September [click to enlarge]

Categories: Aqua, GOES-16, Microwave, MODIS, Suomi NPP, Terra, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS