July 11, 2014 - Hurricane Arthur (01L) off northeastern United States

Hurricane Arthur (01L) off northeastern United States

After passing over the North Carolina coast on the morning of July 4, Hurricane Arthur quickened its northeastward motion and began to weaken. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image on July 4 at 15:20 UTC (11:20 a.m. EDT). At that time, Arthur’s eye had become cloud-filled, and sat over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Delaware and Maryland.

Hurricane Arthur was a record maker in many ways. It was the first named storm of the 2014 Atlantic Hurricane season, it was the first Category 2 hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Hurricane Ike in 2008, and it was the earliest hurricane to hit North Carolina since records began in 1851.

Fortunately, despite making landfall between Cape Lookout and Beaufort, North Carolina at 11:15 p.m. EDT July 3 (03:15 UTC July 4) as at Category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (161 km/h), the storm was no record maker in the category of “destruction”. Local media reported minimal damage, despite downed trees, flooding, some minor building damage, and widespread power outages, especially in the areas hardest hit by the storm (Hatteras and Ocracoke islands).

The storm moved away so quickly that North Carolina beachgoers were back out strolling in the sunshine by the morning of July 5. After that, Arthur weakened very quickly, becoming extra tropical on the morning of July 5. The remnants of the storm came ashore at Meteghan, Nova Scotia early on that same morning, bringing down trees and knocking out power to many in the region, although wind gusts were reported only at about 62 mph (100 km/h). After strengthening a bit, post-tropical storm Arthur made landfall near the Fundy National Park. Local news outlets reported gusts of up to 74.5 mph (120 km/h).

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 7/4/2014
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC