14 Sept 2016
Satellite Movie Shows Tropical Storm Julia Develop over Southeastern U.S.
Two days of infrared and visible imagery from NOAA's GOES-East satellite were made into a movie that showed the development of Tropical Storm Julia over Florida and movement over southern Georgia by the morning of Sept. 14.
System 94L had been lingering around the Bahamas for a couple of days and moved over northeastern Florida on Sept. 13. On Sept. 13 at 2:25 p.m. EDT (18:25 UTC) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard NASA's Aqua satellite took a visible image of developing System 94L over Florida. The image showed strong thunderstorms developing around the center of circulation and thunderstorms in a fragmented band to the north of the center.
By 11 p.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center noted that the low pressure area quickly developed into a tropical storm. At that time it was centered just 5 miles (10 km) west of Jacksonville, Florida.
Overnight from Sept. 13 to the early morning of Sept. 14 there was a Tropical Tropical Storm Warning from Fernandina Beach to Altamaha Sound, but as of 8 a.m. EDT on Sept. 14, that warning has been discontinued.
At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the NASA/NOAA GOES Project created an animation using of NOAA's GOES-East satellite imagery from Sept. 12 to Sept. 14 that shows the development of Tropical Storm Julia over Florida and movement into Georgia. NOAA operates and manages the GOES series of satellites and NASA/NOAA's GOES Project creates images and animations from the data.
At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC) on Sept. 14 the center of Tropical Storm Julia was located near 31.2 degrees north latitude and 81.7 degrees west longitude. That's about 10 miles (20 km) west of Brunswick, Georgia. Julia is moving toward the north near 7 mph (11 kph). A reduction in forward speed is expected today, and Julia is forecast to drift northward over eastern Georgia during the next couple of days.
Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (65 kph) with higher gusts. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles (130 km) primarily over water to the northeast of the center.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said "Julia is expected to produce 3 to 6 inches of rain near the Georgia and South Carolina coastlines through Friday afternoon. Isolated totals of 10 inches are possible. This rainfall could lead to flash flooding. Flooding may be further compounded with persistent strong onshore flow reducing river and stream discharges. Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches are possible across northeast Florida today. An isolated tornado is possible across coastal Georgia and southern South Carolina today, Sept. 14."
Gradual weakening is forecast during the next day or so, and Julia is expected to weaken to a tropical depression later on Sept. 14.
Image:
(Left) On Sept. 13 at 2:25 p.m. EDT (18:25 UTC) NASA's Aqua satellite took this visible image of developing System 94L over Florida. By 11 p.m. System 94L organized into Tropical Storm Julia.
(Right) NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured this visible image of Tropical Storm Julia on Sept. 14 at 8:37 a.m. EDT (1237 UTC), centered just 10 miles west of Brunswick, Georgia.