A three-dimensional view of Hurricane Willa

A three-dimensional view of Hurricane Willa today’s Video of the Day from EurekAlert features a simulated 3-D view of Hurricane Willa that was produced at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

When the core satellite of the Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM) passed over the powerful storm, the forecasters could see a well-defined eye containing intense rain, falling at a rate of over 6.3 inches per hour in some areas.

On October 22, the National Hurricane Center reported that the storm “will become a potentially catastrophic category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale and is expected to produce life-threatening storm surge, wind, and rainfall over portions of west-central and southwestern Mexico.” The NHC continued to track the disturbance until it developed into a tropical depression on October 20, off the coast of southwestern Mexico.

The depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Willa later in the day as a period of rapid intensification commenced. Hurricane Willa was a powerful tropical cyclone that brought torrential rains and destructive winds to southwestern Mexico, particularly the states of Sinaloa and Nayarit, during late-October 2018. After crossing the Yucatán, Wilma emerged into the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane. As it began accelerating to the northeast, gradual re-intensification occurred, and the hurricane was upgraded to Category 3 status on October 24. A three-dimensional view of Hurricane Willa as shown above in video.

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Video Credit: EurekAlert