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Hurricane Iota in the Caribbean Sea

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) and Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) and Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Iota intensified to a Category 1 hurricane at 0600 UTC on 15 November 2020 — 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East)  “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) and Mid-level (6.9 µm) Water Vapor images (above) showed that the interior structure of the tropical cyclone improved during the day.

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 southwesterly shear, which favored intensification.

GOES-16 Longwave Infrared (11.2 µm) images, with contours of 19 UTC deep-layer wind shear [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Longwave Infrared (11.2 µm) images, with contours of 19 UTC deep-layer wind shear [click to enlarge]

===== 16 November Update =====

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

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

Iota rapidly intensified to a Category 5 storm as of 15 UTC on 16 November (ADT | SATCON). 1-minute GOES-16 Visible and Infrared images from sunrise to sunset are shown above; mesovortices were seen within the eye of the hurricane. Iota had been moving over warm water having  Sea Surface Temperature values of 29-30ºC, which was favorable for intensification.

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

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

After sunset, Hurricane Iota eventually made landfall along the coast of Nicaragua as a Category 4 storm at 0340 UTC on 17 November — GOES-16 Infrared images (above) indicated an eye structure that was deteriorating and becoming more cloud-filled as the hurricane approached the coast.

Categories: GOES-16, Satellite winds, Tropical cyclones