AIRS Captures Tropical Storm Hanna

NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) was monitoring Tropical Storm Hanna as it took aim at southern Texas on July 26. Perched on NASA's Aqua satellite, AIRS is an instrument that studies Earth's weather and climate. Hanna made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane around 5 p.m. local time over Padre Island, Texas, on July 25. Since then, the storm has lost steam, weakening to a tropical storm in the early morning hours of July 26, and then to a tropical depression by the afternoon. The purple areas in the AIRS image — taken at 1:35 a.m. local time on July 26 — show regions within the tropical storm with cold clouds high in Earth's atmosphere that tend to produce heavy rainfall. The National Hurricane Center predicts that Hanna will continue over northeastern Mexico, where it will dissipate by late in the day on July 27. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23784