News Release

NASA's RapidScat sees Tropical Storm Jimena's strong side away from Hawaii

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

GOES Image of Jimena

image: This infrared image of Tropical Storm Jimena was captured by NOAA's GOES-West satellite on Sept. 9 at 8 a.m. EDT. Jimena appears as a swirl of clouds with strongest storms on its north and eastern sides. view more 

Credit: Credits: NASA/NOAA GOES Project

The strongest winds in Tropical Storm Jimena were on its northern side when NASA's RapidScat instrument measured the storm's surface winds. The following day, NOAA's GOES-West satellite saw the strongest thunderstorms east of the center.

RapidScat is a scatterometer perched on the International Space Station (ISS) that measures surface winds over the ocean. When the ISS passed over Jimena on September 8 at 11 a.m. EDT, RapidScat saw the strongest sustained winds in Jimena near 25 meters per second (55.9 mph/90 kph) on the northern side of the storm. Winds around the rest of the circulation center were weaker.

On September 9 at 0300 UTC (Sept. 8 at 11 p.m. EDT) the center of tropical storm Jimena was located near latitude 26.0 north and longitude 153.9 west. That's about 410 miles (660 km) northeast of Honolulu, Hawaii. Jimena was moving toward the west-southwest near 8 mph (14 kph). Jimena is forecast to turn to the west by September 10.

Maximum sustained winds dropped to near 50 mph (85 kph) and NOAA's Central Pacific Hurricane Center forecast calls for a slow decrease in strength for the next couple of days. The estimated minimum central pressure was 998 millibars.

NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured an infrared image of Tropical Storm Jimena on Sept. 9 at 8 a.m. EDT. In the image, Jimena appears as a swirl of clouds with strongest storms on its north and eastern sides.

As Tropical Storm Jimena continues its westerly track, northeast and east facing shores of the Hawaiian Islands will continue to experience large swells and surf through Wednesday, September 9, 2015. For updated forecasts, visit the CPHC website: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc.

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