In mid-June 2010, Tropical Storm Blas hovered over the eastern Pacific, just off the west coast of central Mexico. On June 18, 2010, the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that Tropical Storm Blas had maximum sustained winds of 40 knots (75 kilometers per hour) and gusts up to 50 knots (90 kilometers per hour). The storm track projection aimed westward over the Pacific Ocean.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image on June 17, 2010. Blas has the comma shape characteristic of tropical cyclones, although the storm lacks a distinct eye. Just off the northeastern edge of Blas, vortices swirl southward from Isla Socorro.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott.
