File:NASA Satellites See Hurricane Barbara Come Ashore and Fizzle (8904374535).jpg

This animation merges two images of rainfall captured by NASA's TRMM satellite. TRMM captured the first image of Barbara several hours after it made landfall. The image was taken at 6:46 p.m. PDT on May 29 (01:46 UTC 30 May), 2013, and shows the horizontal distribution of rain intensity within the storm. Rain rates in the center of the swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), and those in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS). As is typical, after making landfall Barbara began to weaken and was a tropical storm with winds reported at 60 mph at the time of this image. The first image from TRMM shows no evidence of an eye and areas of mostly light (blue) to moderate (green) rain within the storm. Localized areas of heavier rain are evident inland northwest of the center and along the coast where the storm's circulation is drawing moist air ashore. After making landfall, Barbara continued in a mostly northward direction across southern Mexico and began to emerge over the southern Gulf of Mexico.

As the transition to the next image occurs, the viewer can see the progression of the storm north across Mexico and the difference in rainfall. The second image was taken by TRMM at 09:58 UTC (2:58 a.m. PDT), May 30. By this time, Barbara had been downgraded to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 30 knots (~35 mph). Most of the rain associated with Barbara at this time appears to be light (blue areas) with a smaller proportion of moderate rain (green areas) than before and only an isolated area of heavy rain along the Gulf coast side (red dot).

Credit: NASA/SSAI, Hal Pierce

NASA Satellites See Hurricane Barbara Come Ashore and Fizzle

Hurricane Barbara recently made landfall along the southern Pacific coast of Mexico and NASA’s TRMM and Suomi NPP satellites captured rainfall rates within the storm, and a night-time image of landfall. NOAA’s GOES satellites provided images that were made into an animation showing the landfall and movement across Mexico into the Bay of Campeche on May 31.

According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the center of Hurricane Barbara came ashore around 19:50 UTC (12:50 p.m. PDT) on Wednesday, May 29 about 35 km (~20 miles) west of Tonala, Mexico. At landfall, Barbara was a minimal Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.

For the full storm history of Hurricane Barbara, visit NASA’s Hurricane page at: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2013/h2013...

Rob Gutro NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA image use policy.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

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