Hurricane Ike Slams Cuba on September 8, 2008

  • Released Monday, September 8, 2008
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NASA's TRMM spacecraft observed this view of Hurricane Ike on September 8, 2008 as slammed into Cuba . At this time the storm had weakened to a category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 85 knots (98 mph) and a pressure reading of 960 millibars. Hurricane-force winds were extending outward 60 miles from the center, while tropical storm-force winds extended up to 200 miles from the center. The cloud cover in this animation is taken by TRMM's Visible and Infrared Scanner(VIRS) and the GOES spacecraft. The rain structure is taken by TRMM's Tropical Microwave Imager (TMI) and TRMM's Precitation Radar(PR) instruments. TRMM looks underneath of the storm's clouds to reveal the underlying rain structure. Blue represents areas with at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. Green shows at least 0.5 inches of rain per hour. Yellow is at least 1.0 inches of rain and red is at least 1.5 inches of rain per hour.

Hurricane Ike slams into Cuba at 7:04 EDT on September 8, 2008.

This image shows the rain structure of the hurricane at this time. Rain is the fuel that powers the storm. The blue region represents areas where the storm is dumping at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. Green is 0.5 inches of rain per hour, yellow is 1.0 inches of rain and red is 1.5 inches of rain per hour.

This image shows the rain structure of the hurricane at this time. Rain is the fuel that powers the storm. The blue region represents areas where the storm is dumping at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. Green is 0.5 inches of rain per hour, yellow is 1.0 inches of rain and red is 1.5 inches of rain per hour.

Here is the same image with the cloud cover overlaid.

Here is the same image with the cloud cover overlaid.

Hurricane-force winds were extending outward 45 miles from the center, while tropical storm-force winds extended up to 140 miles from the center.

Hurricane-force winds were extending outward 45 miles from the center, while tropical storm-force winds extended up to 140 miles from the center.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Monday, September 8, 2008.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:55 PM EDT.

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