Status Report

NASA MODIS Image of the Day: October 18, 2008 – Hurricane Omar in the Caribbean Sea

By SpaceRef Editor
October 18, 2008
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NASA MODIS Image of the Day: October 18, 2008 – Hurricane Omar in the Caribbean Sea
NASA MODIS Image of the Day: October 18, 2008 - Hurricane Omar in the Caribbean Sea

Images

The MODIS on the Aqua satellite captured this image of Hurricane Omar on October 15, 2008.

Omar was a tropical storm when it poured heavy rains on the northern Columbia and Venezuela, as well as Aruba and Curacao on the 14th.

By the next day, the storm had transformed into a hurricane, developing an eye-wall, a more circular shape, and hurricane-strength winds. In today’s image, the circular shape is apparent, though the eye of the storm is closed. The eye had only been intermittently appearing. Omar continued to strengthen as it heads towards the Virgin Islands and Lesser Antilles, becoming a Category 3 storm as it passed between St. Maarten and the Virgin Islands on October 16th. According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, the storm had sustained winds of nearly 125 miles per hour. Omar was expected to move into the open waters of the Atlantic, towards the northeast, and was not expected to hit the US.

SpaceRef staff editor.