Earth ID: 11979

NASA On Air: NASA Compares Katrina And Sandy Wind Fields (8/24/2015)

Released on August 24, 2015

LEAD: On this 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, it is interesting to compare the size of Katrina to the size of Sandy of three years ago.

1. Katrina is shown on the left, and Sandy on the right. Katrina was a textbook hurricane. Sandy started as a hurricane, but turned into an extra-tropical storm.

2. Tropical storm winds of 40 mph are shown in yellow, hurricane winds in red.

3. Katrina's winds greater than 40 mph stretched 300 miles across.

4. Sandy's winds over 40 mph stretched three times as wide, or 900 miles.

TAG: The size of the wind field is just one of the critical components that forecasters use to predict the storm surges during landfall.

For More Information

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=79626

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL182012_Sandy.pdf

Credits

Howard Joe Witte (ADNET): Lead Producer
Sophia Roberts (USRA): Video Editor

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Text info courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory/Adam Voiland, with information from Jenni Evans, Bryan Stiles, Brian McNoldy, and Alexander Fore.

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Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Hurricane Katrina
NASA Science >> Earth
SVS >> Hurricane Sandy