July 13, 2013 - Hurricane Dalila (04E) off Mexico

Hurricane Dalila (04E) off Mexico

On July 2, 2013 the tropical storm that had been hugging the coast of Mexico turned towards open ocean and strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image at 20:55 UTC (4:55 p.m. EDT) on that same day, while the storm hovered over the eastern Pacific Ocean west of the Mexican state of Jalisco.

At the time the image was captured, Hurricane Dalila had a cloud-filled, ragged central eye and bands of thunderstorms in the northern and southern quadrants. Just five minutes later, at 21:00 UTC (5:00 p.m. EDT), the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Dalila had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and was located about 165 mi (260 km) west southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico.

After dumping considerable rain along Mexico’s coast, the slow-moving storm continued to move westward out to sea and began to weaken due to easterly wind shear and movement into drier air. By the afternoon of July 3, the NHC downgraded Dalila to a tropical storm. By the afternoon of July 7, Dalila became a post-tropical cyclone and the NHC ceased to issue advisories on the storm.

The storm was a rain-maker for Mexico, and caused flooding in many regions. However, no major damage was reported.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/2/2013
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC