October 31, 2014 - Tropical Storm Ana (02C) in the North Pacific Ocean

Tropical Storm Ana (02C) in the North Pacific Ocean

On October 25, 2014 the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite captured this true-color image of Tropical Storm Ana circulating in the North Pacific Ocean, near the end of a long, wet, windy run.

Ana formed as Tropical Depression Two-C southwest of the main Hawaiian islands on October 13, and was named Tropical Storm Ana by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) by early the next morning. After entering warmer waters, Ana became a hurricane on October 17, as it took aim at Hawaii. Fortunately, the storm skirted the islands coming within 90 miles of Kauai on October 19.

Although not a particularly strong hurricane– the highest gust reported was 91 mph on the islands - Ana brought wind, high surf and torrential rain to much of the Hawaiian Islands before pulling away and weakening to a tropical storm on October 24.

On October 25, Ana experienced a resurgence and was at hurricane status early that morning. By 21:00 UTC – at the time this image was captured, the NHC advised that Hurricane Ana was accelerating northeastward over the Pacific Ocean. Maximum sustained winds were 75 mph (120 km/h), which made it a weak Category 1 hurricane according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The storm was located at 36.3 N and 160.9 W, or about 1050 mi (1690 km) north of Honolulu, Hawaii.

By the next morning, Ana had weakened to tropical storm strength, and then became an extratropical low over the north Pacific Ocean. But Ana was still determined to make her presence known. After interacting with a deep low pressure system to the west, the remnants of Ana began to affect the Northwestern United States and Canada on the night of October 27, bringing heavy rain to the region.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 10/25/2014
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC