 |  | | | | Hurricane Season 2007: Humberto (Atlantic)
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09.14.07
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Humberto a Record-Setter in Explosive Growth and Landfall
Hurricane Humberto set a record for being the quickest storm to change from tropical depression to Hurricane and make landfall. That all happened in just over 12 hours from the time it formed.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Miami, Fla., only three other storms in recorded history grew that fast –- from a depression to a hurricane in under 18 hours. Those storms, however, only did it at sea, and stayed at sea. They were: Blanche in 1969, Harvey in 1981, and Alberto in 1982.
Humberto, was also the first hurricane to make a U.S. landfall in two years, and it hit less than 50 miles from where Hurricane Rita made landfall in 2005.
Remnants of Humberto Bring Much Needed Rains to Combat Drought in Southeast and Mid-Atlantic
At 4:35 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Sept. 13, Tropical Storm Humberto was changed to Tropical Depression Humberto, and by Friday, Humberto was a remnant of a tropical cyclone. The good news is that Humberto's remnants were dropping much needed rains in drought-stricken Mississippi, Alabama, east Tennessee, western North Carolina, eastern Kentucky, eastern West Virginia and western Virginia.
NASA Takes a Sideways View of Tropical Storm Humberto
Click image for enlargement.
NASA's CloudSat satellite has proven useful in hurricane research. CloudSat's
Cloud Profiling Radar captured a profile across Tropical Storm Humberto on
Thursday, Sept. 13 at 6:43 UTC (2:43 a.m. EDT) when Humberto was still a
Category one hurricane making landfall on the Texas/Louisiana border.
By 11:00 a.m. EDT Humberto had weakened to a tropical storm and was located over
southwestern Louisiana. At that time, the center of Tropical Storm Humberto was
located near latitude 30.6 north and longitude 93.2 west or about 75 miles
west-northwest of Lafayette, Louisiana. Humberto was moving toward the
northeast near 12 mph and had a minimum central pressure of 990 millibars.
Maximum sustained winds are near 65 mph with higher gusts. Additional weakening
is expected today and Humberto should become a tropical depression by early
Friday.
The image is the vertical cross section of radar reflectivity along this path,
basically what Humberto's clouds looked like sideways. The colors indicate the
intensity of the reflected radar energy. The top of Humberto's clouds reach
almost to 14 kilometers, or approximately 8.7 miles high.
The blue areas along the top of the clouds indicates cloud ice, while the wavy
blue lines on the bottom center of the image indicate intense rainfall. Notice
that the solid line along the bottom of the panel, which is the ground,
disappears in this area of intense precipitation. It is likely that in the area
the precipitation rate exceeds 30mm/hr (1.18 inches/hour) based on previous
studies.
Click image for enlargement.
+ Higher resolution images
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra
satellite acquired this photo-like image of Humberto at 11:55 a.m. local time
(16:55 UTC) on September 12, 2007, several hours before the storm came ashore.
Hurricane Humberto had the general shape of a hurricane, with spiral arms,
cloud bands, and a distinct tight and stormy center. It had not yet developed
an obvious eye. In fact, at the time this image was acquired, Humberto had just
weakened from a named tropical storm to a tropical depression. Peak winds were
around 55 km/hr (35 mph). Instead of continuing to degenerate as forecast, the
storm very rapidly intensified after this image was taken.
Rob Gutro
Goddard Space Flight Center
And NASA's Earth Observatory (MODIS story)
Images credit: NASA/JPL/Colorado State University/Naval Research Laboratory-Monterey; NASA/Jesse Allen/MODIS Rapid Response
Hurricane Humberto Makes Landfall on Texas-Louisiana Border
Click image for enlargement.
Tropical storm Humberto strengthened dramatically and came ashore near the Texas
and Louisiana Border early on Sept.13, 2007 as a Category 1 hurricane.
The image above which clearly shows Humberto's eye was made from data captured
by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite on September 13 at 0909
UTC (4:09 a.m. EDT). This TRMM image shows the horizontal pattern of rain
intensity within Humberto. The eye is clearly visible in white, surrounded by
yellow and green areas, which indicate rainfall between 20 and 30 millimeters
(.78 to 1.18 inches) per hour.
For more information about how TRMM looks at rainfall, visit NASA's TRMM website. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.
Heavy rainfall is expected along the path of the storm as it moves from
southwestern through northeastern Louisiana.
Click image for enlargement.
NASA's AIRS Instrument Looks at Humberto's Cloud Tops
This infrared satellite image from September 13 at 8:05 UTC (4:05 a.m. EDT) was
created by data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on NASA's Aqua
satellite. This AIRS image shows the temperature of the cloud tops or the
surface of the Earth in cloud-free regions. The lowest temperatures (in purple)
are associated with high, cold cloud tops associated with the lingering showers
and thunderstorms. The infrared signal does not penetrate through clouds. Where
there are no clouds the AIRS instrument reads the infrared signal from the
surface of the Earth, revealing warmer temperatures (red). This infrared image
shows some scattered areas of strong convection (rising air and heavier rain)
of the storm (in purple) directly over the Texas-Louisiana border.
Where is Humberto?
At 8:00 a.m. EDT the center of Hurricane Humberto was located near latitude 30.3
north and longitude 93.6 west, along the Texas-Louisiana border or about 25
miles west-northwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Humberto is moving toward the northeast near 12 mph. This general motion is
expected to continue over the next 24 hours, bringing Humberto across central
Louisiana today. Maximum sustained winds are 80 mph with higher gusts, making
Humberto a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. As Humberto
moves inland, it will weaken. Currently, the estimated minimum central pressure
is 987 millibars.
Rainfall amounts of 5 to 10 inches are expected along much of Louisiana and
Mississippi, as well as extreme southeastern Arkansas, with isolated maximum
accumulations of 15 inches possible. Isolated tornadoes are possible in
southern Louisiana during the afternoon hours on Sept. 13.
Steve Lang SSAI / Goddard Space Flight Center
Rob Gutro Goddard Space Flight Center
Images credit: Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC); NASA/JPL
Tropical Storm Humberto Named; Tropical Depression Eight Intensifying
Tropical depression eight and nine formed in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday Sept. 12, 2007. Tropical depression nine, located in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, was further upgraded to a tropical storm and named Humberto at 2:00 p.m. on Sept. 12, is expected to move slowly northward and affect the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
Humberto Bringing Rains to Texas and Louisiana
Click image for enlargement.
A tropical storm warning remains in effect from Port O'Connor, Texas to Cameron, Louisiana. A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area within the next 24 hours.
At 2:00 p.m. EDT Tropical Storm Humberto's center was located near latitude 28.3 north and longitude 95.1 west or about 70 miles south-southwest of Galveston, Texas and about 145 miles east-northeast of Corpus Christi, Texas.
Humberto is moving toward the north near 6 mph and this general motion is expected to continue over the next 24 hours. On the forecast track, the National Hurricane Center reports that the center of Humberto should be crossing the Texas coast within the warning area tonight.
Maximum sustained winds have increased and are now near 45 mph with higher gusts. Some additional strengthening is possible prior to landfall. Estimated minimum central pressure is 1005 millibars.
Rainfall amounts of 5 to 10 inches are expected along the middle and upper Texas coast and in extreme southwestern Louisiana, with isolated maximum accumulations of 15 inches possible.
Tropical Depression Eight in the Mid-Atlantic
Click image for enlargement.
Tropical depression eight (TD#8) is far away from land in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Caribbean Sea and is expected to intensify and be named tropical storm Ingrid as it moves toward the west-northwest.
At 11:00 a.m. EDT, TD#8 was located at 13.2 degrees north latitude and 44.6 west longitude. TD#8 is moving west-northwest near 12 mph and has maximum sustained winds near 35 mph. TD#8's minimum central pressure was 1007 millibars. The National Hurricane Center noted in its 11 a.m. EDT advisory "Some strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours and the depression could become a tropical storm later today or tonight."
The images above were made from data captured by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite and show the horizontal pattern of rain intensity within the storms. The rainfall analysis of forming tropical depression eight was made from data received on Sept. 12 at 0839 UTC (4:39 a.m. EDT) and the image of forming tropical storm HUMBERTO used TRMM data from Sept. 12 at 1004 UTC (6:04 a.m. EDT).
For more information about how TRMM looks at rainfall, visit NASA's TRMM website. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.
Steve Lang SSAI / Goddard Space Flight Center
Rob Gutro Goddard Space Flight Center
Images credit: Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC)
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