Despite hitting a relatively remote section of the Mexican coastline as a Category 1 hurricane, Stan’s effects were felt across the region as 49 people died in El Salvador as a result of mudslides brought on by related storms. A total of 65 people perished across the entire region as a result of Stan. Stan became the 18th named storm of an extremely active 2005 hurricane season on October 1, 2005, just east of the Yucatan Peninsula in the far western Caribbean. Moving west, Stan quickly made landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula, which it traversed as a weak tropical storm. After re-emerging over warm water in the Bay of Campeche, Stan turned to the southwest and began to intensify. The storm, however, did not have much room to grow over water before encountering the Mexican coastline and so made landfall south of Vera Cruz, Mexico, as a Category 1 hurricane.

The image above shows observations obtained from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) at 10:05 UTC (6:05 am EDT) on October 4. It shows Stan making landfall along the coast of Vera Cruz, Mexico. A band of intense rain (dark red areas) is visible as part of the eastern eyewall, with additional heavy rain associated with an outer rain band located just offshore along the coast. At the time of the image, Stan was a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds reported at 120 kilometers per hour (75 miles per hour) by the National Hurricane Center.

The TRMM satellite has been measuring rainfall over the tropics since its launch in 1997. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.

For more info: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=15630&oldid=13187