NASA MODIS Image of the Day: September 8, 2011 – Hurricane Katia (12L) in the Atlantic Ocean
On September 5, 2011, Katia was a Category 2 hurricane according to the U.
S.
National Hurricane Center (NHC). At 11:00 a.m. Atlantic Standard Time (AST) on September 5, the NHC reported that Katia had maximum sustained winds of 110 miles (175 kilometers) per hour with higher gusts. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image at 11:30 a.m. AST on September 5. Filling the right half of the image, Katia hovers over the ocean northeast of the Turks and Caicos Islands. By 5:00 a.m. AST on September 6, Katia had strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles (205 kilometers) per hour, the NHC reported. At 2:00 p.m. AST on September 7, the storm had weakened, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 km/hr.), making Katia a Category 1 Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. At that time, Katia was moving toward the north-northwest, but the NHC predicted a strong turn to the north-northeast, steering away from the United States coast. Large swells generated by Hurricane Katia are predicted to continue to affect most of the East Coast of the United States, Bermuda, the Greater Antilles and east-facing beaches of the Bahamas. Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions are expected in these areas.
