July 16, 2019 - Tropical Storm Barry

Tropical Storm Barry

Barry continued moving slowly north through Arkansas on July 14, bringing continuing concerns of continued heavy rainfall and flooding. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the south central United States on July 14, 2019 and captured a visible image of then Tropical Storm Barry. The large storm stretched over the Mississippi River Valley and into Arkansas, Mississippi, western Alabama and southwestern Tennessee.

Barry briefly attained hurricane status, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h) as it began to make landfall in Louisiana on the morning of July 13. It quickly weakened to tropical storm strength as it tracked through northwestern Louisiana on July 14, then weakened to a tropical depression. On its track, Barry dropped up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain in some isolated places. Barry’s rainfall created flooding along the Mississippi River.

On July 15 at 2100 UTC (5:00 p.m. EDT) the National Hurricane Center reported that Barry had reached post-tropical cyclone status, with maximum sustained winds of 25 mph (35 km/h). The center of the system was located about 85 mi (135 km) south of Springfield, Missouri and 105 mi (165 km) northwest of Little Rock, Arkansas. Further weakening is forecast during the next 24 hours. Although Barry has weakened substantially, the system still carries heavy rain, bringing a threat of flash flooding to persist to the east and the south of center. A band of very heavy rainfall appears possible over Arkansas through July 16. Rain accumulations of 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm) with isolated maximum amounts of up to 8 inches (20.3 cm) across Arkansas, western Tennessee and Kentucky, southeast Missouri, and northwest Mississippi are expected.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/14/2019
Resolutions: 1km (637.5 KB), 500m (5.8 MB), 250m (11.9 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC