• MODIS Pic of the Day 11 September 2022

    From Dan Richter@1:317/3 to All on Sun Sep 11 12:00:38 2022
    September 11, 2022 - Tropical Storm Kay Adds to Extreme West Coast Weather

    Kay
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    Smoke, fire, extreme heat, a drought-stricken landscape, and winds and
    rain from a fading hurricane were all on the meteorological menu for
    Southern California in the opening weeks of September 2022. The prize
    for the most succinct summary of the situation probably goes to Dr.
    Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist, who opened this September 7
    blog this way, “Let me just start by saying that this is perhaps the
    singularly most unusual and extreme weather week in quite some time in
    California–and that is saying something.”

    On September 9, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
    (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image
    that captured a snapshot of some of the extremes affecting Southern
    California. In this image, smoke pours from the Fairview Fire that is
    burning southeast of Los Angeles as Tropical Storm Kay approaches,
    carrying strong gusting winds and heavy rain. Near the time the image
    was captured, Kay was carrying maximum sustained winds of bout 45 mph
    (70 km/h) and was located about 95 mi (155 km) west-northwest of Punta
    Baja, Mexico and 140 miles (225 km) south of San Diego, California.

    The National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued its first advisory on Kay on
    September 4, when it first noted the formation of a tropical depression
    about 225 miles (260 km) south-southwest of the town of Acapulco,
    Mexico. It quickly gathered strength, and by the afternoon of September
    5, Kay had become a Category 1 hurricane packing maximum sustained
    winds of 75 mph (121 km/h) as it moved roughly parallel to the Mexican
    coast. Two days later, on September 7, Hurricane Kay reached peak
    strength as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105
    mph (169 km/h). It then began to weaken shortly before making landfall
    on the west coast of the central Baja Peninsula, Mexico, on September
    8. At landfall, Kay retained a nominal Category 1 status with maximum
    sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h), but it continued a weakening
    trend as it skirted the northern Baja Peninsula and California coasts.

    On the morning of September 10, the NHC issued its last advisory on
    Kay, which had become a Post-Tropical Cyclone moving to the
    west-northwest, which was away from the coast and towards the open
    waters of the Pacific Ocean. At that time maximum sustained winds were
    40 mph (64 km/h) with gusts to 52 mph (84 km/h). Kay is forecast to
    continue to weaken until it dissipates on or about September 14.

    The storm brought heavy rainfall to parts of Southern California,
    including flooding and mudslides to some areas. Gusts ahead of the
    storm fanned the Fairview Fire, but firefighters had anticipated such
    an event and fought vigorously. Ultimately, Kay’s rainfall brought
    cooler temperatures and both higher humidity and some rain to the
    Fairview Fire, assisting in bringing it to 40 percent containment by
    late on September 10. The Fairview Fire began on September 5 in the
    unincorporated county area of Helmet. By the afternoon of September 10,
    the firefighters and support personnel assigned to the fire had reached
    2,241.

    Image Facts
    Satellite: Terra
    Date Acquired: 9/9/2022
    Resolutions: 1km (2.1 MB), 500m (2.4 MB),
    Bands Used: 1,4,3
    Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



    https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-09-11

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