Hurricane Celia became the first hurricane of the 2010 eastern Pacific season in late June 2010. On June 22, 2010, the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported that Celia was a Category 2 hurricane, and that the storm could be expected to strengthen over the next 48 hours. The same day, the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that Celia had maximum sustained winds of 90 knots (170 kilometers per hour) with gusts up to 110 knots (200 kilometers per hour). As the storm was projected to move farther away from land, however, no coastal watches or warnings were in effect.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image of Celia on June 21, 2010, two days after observing both Celia and Tropical Storm Blas in a single overpass. West of Central America, Celia sports spiral arms but no obvious eye.
NASA image courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott.
