NASA MODIS Image of the Day: September 5, 2012 – Remnants of Hurricane Isaac (09L) over the eastern United States
As the Gulf Coast of the United States continued to struggle with severe floods brought by Hurricane Isaac, the slow moving rainmaker continue to bring foul weather to much of the eastern United States. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image of the sprawling remnants of Isaac on September 3. On this date bands of rain and storm producing clouds stretched from near the Great Lakes south to northern Florida. Isaac whipped by the Lesser and Greater Antilles, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba before bee-lining through the Straits of Florida towards the Gulf Coast. The storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near the mouth of the Mississippi River in southwestern Louisiana at about 6:45 p.m. local time on August 28. It then moved westward and back out over water until making a second landfall near Port Fourchon around 4 a.m. on August 29. In the coastal Gulf States, Isaac brought torrential rain and high storm surges. According to Accuweather.com, storm surges of 9-11 feet were recorded at Shell Beach, and about 6 feet at Lake Pontchartrain, New Orleans, Louisiana. Rainfall totaled 20.08 inches in New Orleans, 16.6 inches in Vero Beach, Florida, 17.04 inches in Kiln, Mississippi, and 11.07 inches in Grand Bay, Alabama. Storm related deaths were reported in Haiti, Cuba, the Lesser Antilles, and in the states of Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. Since battering the coast, Isaac has weakened, but the remnants continue to track north-northeast, and are interacting with a front to bring not only soaking rains, but also bring very hot, humid weather to the region. On September 4, the rains and clouds reportedly caused delays averaging one hour and 14 minutes at La Guardia Airport in New York, and Bloomberg reported that energy use was predicted to rise as much as 60 percent above normal for this time of year from Boston to Richmond due to the heat. On September 4, Accuweather.com reported that the remnants of Isaac now appear to have split into two parts, with one feature moving over the eastern Great Lakes and the other moving along the central Gulf coast. This may potentially bring severe storms to the western coast of Florida and the Gulf States by September 5.
