September 11, 2021 - Hurricane Larry over Bermuda

Larry

Hurricane Larry sideswiped Bermuda on September 9, 2021, bringing wind, rain, storm surge, and choppy waters to the island archipelago as the massive storm headed towards Newfoundland. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of Hurricane Larry dwarfing Bermuda on that same day.

The total area of Bermuda, made up of more than 130 coral islands and islets, is about 54 square miles (140 sq km)—roughly one-third of the size of Washington, D.C., according to the CIA World Factbook. The largest island, Main Island, measures 14 miles (22.5 km) in length. In contrast, at roughly the time this image was acquired, Hurricane Larry’s hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 90 miles (150 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extended outwards up to 200 miles (350 km) from the center. Larry passed as close as 170 mi (274 km) to Bermuda, where gusts of up to 45 mph (74 km/h) were reported at Pearl Island. In this image, Bermuda is outlined in black.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that on the afternoon of September 9, as the storm passed closest to Bermuda, Larry carried maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 km/h), placing it as a Category 1 storm on the Saffir Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Hurricane Larry had reached peak strength on September 4 as a strong Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (201 km).

After passing Bermuda, Larry fast-tracked across the Atlantic Ocean towards Newfoundland. At 0300 UTC on September 11 (11:00 p.m. EDT Sep. 10), the NHC reported that the center of Hurricane Larry was to move over southeastern Newfoundland over the next few hours, bringing hurricane force winds, dangerous storm surge, and heavy rainfall to the region. Larry retained its Category 1 status, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 km/h). At that time, the storm center was located about 85 mi (135 km) west of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 9/9/2021
Resolutions: 1km (155.5 KB), 500m (484 KB), 250m (1.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC