Hurricane Hilary pulled away from the western Mexico coastline this weekend, and NASA's TRMM satellite has monitored its rainfall. Hilary's heaviest rainfall is in its northwest quadrant, and falling over open ocean today, but Hilary may be headed back toward land.
This visible image of Hurricane Hilary was captured by the MODIS instrument on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 17:40 UTC (1:40 p.m. EDT) when it was off the west coast of Mexico.
NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite known as TRMM passed over Hilary on Sept. 26 at 5:29 a.m. EDT and its precipitation radar instrument measured rainfall happening throughout the storm from its orbit in space. TRMM saw that most of the rainfall occurring in Hurricane Hilary today was moderate, and the heaviest area was limited to its northwestern quadrant where rain was coming down at 2 inches/50 mm per hour.
TRMM also has the ability to measure cloud heights, which indicate the power within a hurricane. The higher the towering clouds around the eye, usually the stronger the power within the hurricane. TRMM noticed that the highest cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) clouds in the center were around 14 kilometers (8.6 miles). Towering clouds that height are indicative of a lot of power in the storm.
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