Tropical Storm Ida Observed on November 9, 2009 at 1218 UTC

NASA's TRMM spacecraft observed this view of Tropical Storm Ida on November 9, 2009 at 1218 UTC (7:18 AM EST). Scattered convective thunderstorms are shown producing moderate to heavy rainfall of over 50 millimeters per hour (~2 inches) north of IDA's center of circulation and in a strong band on the eastern side. At the time of this image IDA had winds estimated at 70 knots (~80.5 mph). IDA is predicted by the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida to hit the Gulf coast near Pensacola, Florida on Tuesday morning. 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. The colored isosurface under the clouds show the rain seen by the PR instrument.