NASA MODIS Image of the Day: August 26, 2011 – Hurricane Irene (09L) over the Bahamas (morning overpass)
On August 24, 2011, Hurricane Irene pummeled the Bahamas, tearing down trees, cutting power, and causing flooding.
The extent of damage will be impossible to fully assess until after the storm moves away from the island chain, which is expected to happen on August 26.
This image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite at 15:05 UTC (11:05 a.m. EDT) on August 25. In this image, a dense center can be seen surrounded by bands of thunderstorms which spiral tightly against the cloud-filled eye. This tight apostrophe-shape is typical of a well-developed hurricane. At the time this image was captured, Irene was slowly moving across the Bahamas with sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 km/h), and classified as a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. At 11:00 p.m. EDT, on August 25, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that the eye of the storm had moved away from the northwestern Bahamas and moved over open ocean. The eye has also become better defined. The storm has a structure amenable to intensification, and will be moving over warm waters, so some strengthening is expected for the next 12 to 24 hours. After that, a slow weakening is predicted. However, the NHC predicts that Irene will approach the coast of North Carolina as a powerful hurricane.
