July 19, 2016 - Hurricane Darby (05E) in the eastern Pacific Ocean

Hurricane Darby (05E) in the eastern Pacific Ocean

On July 15, 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite flew over the eastern Pacific Ocean and acquired a true-color image of a strengthening Hurricane Darby. At the time, the storm had convection bands wrapping tightly around a large, cloud-filled eye.

At 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. EDT) on that same day, one hour and fifteen minutes before this image was captured, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Hurricane Darby was located at 16.0 N and 119.1 W, or about 765 miles (1230 km) southwest of the southern tip of Baja California and was moving westward. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 km/h), making it a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

Hurricane Darby reached peak strength on July 16 as it moved away from the California Coast and towards Hawaii. As it moved westward, the storm encountered cooler water and dry air aloft, taking some of the strength out of the system. On July 18, the NHC reported that maximum sustained winds had decreased to near 75 mph (120 km/h), making it a minimal Category 1 hurricane well on its way to tropical storm status. Additional weakening is forecast during the next 48 hours, with no significant impact expected to land.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/15/2016
Resolutions: 1km (851.1 KB), 500m (2.8 MB), 250m (6.6 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC