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Hurricane Erick makes landfall along the southern coast of Mexico

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute GOES-19 Visible and Infrared images, from 1800 UTC on 18 June to 0053 UTC on 19 June [click to play animated GIF]

1-minute Mesoscale Sector GOES-19 Visible and Infrared images (above) showed Hurricane Erick as it intensified from a Category 2 storm at 1800 UTC on 18 June to a Category 3 storm by 0000 UTC on 19 June 2025. The eye became a bit more distinct during that time period — and convective bursts within the eyewall occasionally exhibited cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures of -80C or colder (violet pixels embedded within brighter white regions).

Erick was moving through an environment characterized by low values of deep-layer wind shear (below) — a factor that favored intensification.

GOES-19 Infrared images, with an overlay of deep-layer wind shear at 0000 UTC on 19 June

A DMSP-18 Microwave image at 2154 UTC on 18 June (below) displayed a large outer eyewall (compared to the more compact eye seen in GOES-19 images), suggesting that an eyewall replacement cycle might soon occur.

DMSP-18 SSMI/S Microwave (85 GHz) image at 2154 UTC on 18 June [click to enlarge]

1-minute GOES-19 Infrared images (below) showed the period where Erick continued its rapid intensification, becoming a Category 4 storm just before 0600 UTC on 19 June. The hurricane weakened somewhat to Category 3 intensity shortly before making landfall around 1200 UTC on 19 June. Convective bursts within the eyewall occasionally reached -90C (yellow pixels embedded within darker purple areas).

1-minute GOES-19 Infrared images, from 2100 UTC on 18 June to 1301 UTC on 19 June [click to play animated GIF]

Deep-layer wind shear remained very low in the vicinity of Erick (below), maintaining a favorable environment for intensification.

GOES-19 Infrared images, with an overlay of deep-layer wind shear at 0900 UTC on 19 June

A DMSP-18 Microwave image at 1030 UTC on 19 June (below) suggested that landfall might have occurred a bit earlier than 1200 UTC.

DMSP-18 SSMI/S Microwave (85 GHz) image at 1030 UTC on 19 June [click to enlarge]

Categories: DMSP, GOES-19, Satellite winds, Tropical cyclones