The National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla. issued its final advisory on Tropical Storm Grace on October 5 at 8 p.m. EDT, but the residents in Ireland are feeling her rains and gusty winds. At 11 p.m. EDT on October 5, Grace’s center was located near 49.7 North and 13.4 West, about 210 miles southwest of Cork, Ireland, and moving north-northeast near 26 mph. Grace still had maximum sustained winds near 52 mph and higher gusts, and was creating 12 foot-high seas. Her minimum central pressure was 986 millibars. Tropical storm-force winds of 37 mph extend 85 miles out from Grace’s center. By 8 a.m. EDT this morning, October 6, Grace’s circulation was officially absorbed by a cold front moving through the region. That absorption is evident on NASA’s Aqua satellite imagery as Grace’s remnants appeared stretched from northeast to southwest. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) is an instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite and it captured an infrared image of an elongated Grace on October 6 at 0259 UTC (October 5 at 10:59 EDT) that resembles more of a cold front than a tropical storm. |
On October 6 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) Typhoon Parma was back over land, in the northwestern corner of Luzon, the Philippines. For awhile, Parma lacked steering winds, but is now on a southerly path, and then will turn west and go out into the South China Sea. Parma was located 240 miles north of Manila, near 18.5 North and 120.9 East. Parma had maximum sustained winds near 55 knots (63 mph). It was moving south-southeastward near 5 mph, and is expected to emerge into the South China Sea later today after it turns toward the southwest. NASA’s Quick Scatterometer satellite (QuikScat) has been watching Parma’s winds by using microwaves to peer into the clouds. QuikScat can determine the speed of the rotating winds. This image from QuikScat shows Parma’s wind speeds in different colors and wind direction are indicated by small barbs. White barbs point to areas of heavy rain. The highest wind speeds, are shown in purple, which indicate winds over 40 knots (46 mph). NASA’s QuikScat instrument captured an inside look at Typhoon Parma’s winds on Oct. 5 at 10:29 UTC (6:29 EDT). NASA’s Terra satellite flew over Typhoon Parma on Oct. 6 at 240 UTC as it started moving back over the northwestern corner of Luzon, the Philippines, and the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer captured an image of its massive cloud cover stretching from Taiwan (north) to the northwestern area of Luzon. Parma is now expected to move westward through the South China Sea and may intensify before it makes landfall either in Hainan Island, or mainland southeastern China. |
