Isaias re-intensifies to a Hurricane

By Scott Bachmeier • 3 August 2020

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

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed the 10-hour period leading up to the time when Tropical Storm Isaias re-intensified to Category 1 hurricane intensity on 03 August 2020. The center of Isaias passed near Buoy 41004 (below) — ahead of the storm, there was a wind gust to 62 knots (71 mph) at 21 UTC, and after the storm center had passed there was a wind gust to 68 knots (78 mph).

Plot of wind speed (blue), wind gust (red) and air pressure (green) at Buoy 41004

GOES-16 Infrared images with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (below) showed that there was some lightning activity associated with areas of deep convection around the center of Isaias.

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

Hurricane Isaias made landfall in North Carolina at 0315 UTC on 04 August (11:15 PM EDT); a few hours later, VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images from the VIIRS Today site (below) showed the hurricane as it was moving further inland.

VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 [click to enlarge]

Categories: GLM, GOES-16, Lightning, NOAA-20, Suomi NPP, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS

CIMSS Satellite Blog

CIMSS Satellite Blog

Isaias re-intensifies to a Hurricane