Hurricane Gustav plowed through the Caribbean Sea before reaching the Gulf of Mexico on August 29, 2008. After bringing heavy rain and strong winds to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Jamaica, Gustav built power dramatically. For a number of hours on August 30, Gustav reached Category 4 strength, packing sustained winds over 240 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour). The storm quickly crossed the Gulf of Mexico and headed for landfall on the coast of Louisiana about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of New Orleans.
This photo-like image of Hurricane Gustav was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on August 31, 2008, at 11:45 a.m. local time (16:45 UTC). By this time, Gustav’s strength had reduced to Category 3. Peak sustained winds were around 185 km/hr (115 mph), and storm surge from the whipping winds had brought sea levels as much as 4 meters (12 feet) above normal, according to the National Hurricane Center.
However, the storm did not appear well-formed in this satellite image, with no obvious eye and lacking the well-defined spiraling bands of clouds that are the hallmark of the strongest hurricanes. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hurricane hunter aircraft flying into the storm on August 31 reported that no eyewall structure was detected in Gustav’s center at roughly the time this satellite image was taken, according to the Associated Press.
Despite lacking these hallmarks of strong storms, Gustav maintained Category 3 strength throughout August 31 and the early hours of September 1. The storm’s center was expected to come ashore mid-day on September 1, still at Category 3 strength, according to National Hurricane Center warnings. Coming only a day after the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, Gustav’s predicted landfall on September 1 has been a source of great attention by emergency planning authorities and local residents. Mandatory evacuations ahead of the storm’s arrival were in effect for much of the Gulf Coast, including New Orleans.
The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS’ full spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Jesse Allen.
