NASA MODIS Image of the Day: September 17, 2011 – Hurricane Katia (12L) off New England
Hurricane Katia’s western edge brushed New England, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on September 9, 2011.
This image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite at 15:00 UTC (11:00 Eastern Daylight Time).
At the time this image was captured the storm was a Category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale with maximum sustained winds near 75 knots. Hurricane Katia was also quite large with tropical storm force winds reportedly extending 255 miles from the center. Hurricane Katia caused rough surf along the U.S. east coast but never made landfall until it crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Katia held together on its ocean journey and brought hurricane-force winds to the U.K. this week. The U.K. Daily Mail reported that the damages from Hurricane Katia are expected to be as high as “tens of millions of pounds.” Katia battered the U.K. with hurricane-force wind gusts, downing trees and damaging structures. The highest wind gust was 82 mph at Capel Curig in north Wales. The northern U.K. was most affected by Katia and the Mail called the storm damage “the worst in 15 years in Britain.” Katia caused thousands of residents to lose power, downing trees onto powerlines. Rough surf caused cancellations of ferry service, and Katia’s heavy rains caused inland flooding.
