September 4, 2016 - Hurricane Gaston (07L) in the central Atlantic Ocean

Hurricane Gaston (07L) in the central Atlantic Ocean

NASA's Terra satellite passed over Hurricane Gaston and provided a stunning look at powerful Hurricane Gaston as it headed toward the Azores Islands in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean. The image showed that Gaston still maintained a distinct eye, although it was partially cloud-filled. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard Terra captured this true-color image at 10:00 a.m. ECT (1400 UTC) on August 31, 2016.

On September 1 the National Hurricane Center (NHC) posted a Tropical Storm Warning for Flores and Corvo in the western Azores. By September 2 a Tropical Storm Watch was placed for Faial, Pico, Graciosa, Sao Jorge, and Terceira in the central Azores.

At 0300 UTC on September 1 (11:00 p.m. EDT on August 31) the NHC reported that Hurricane Gaston was packing sustained winds of about 103 mph (166 km/h), making at Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, and the storm was well away from land.

Gaston quickly weakened, causing the NHC to issue the final warning on the storm on September 3 at 0900 UTC (5:00 a.m. EDT). At that time Gaston had become a post-tropical cyclone and was located near 40.5 North and 26.9 West and was moving towards the north-northeast. Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 34.5 mph (55.5 km/h).

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 8/31/2016
Resolutions: 1km (922.4 KB), 500m (3.2 MB), 250m (7.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC