The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite acquired this natural-color image of Hurricane Sandy at 1:50 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (17:50 Universal Time) on October 28, 2012. Suomi NPP was launched one year ago today.
Just moments after this image was acquired, the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported that Sandy’s center was located at 32.8° North and 71.9° West, about 575 miles (930 kilometers) south of New York City. Maximum sustained winds were observed at 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, and the barometric pressure at the center of the storm was 951 millibars (28.08 inches). The storm was predicted to make landfall in New Jersey on October 29, midway between Philadelphia and New York City.
For more views of the storm, visit our Hurricane Sandy event page. The National Hurricane Center provides the official U.S. storm forecasts and regular updates on conditions on its home page.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using Suomi NPP VIIRS data provided by Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS). Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, NOAA and the Department of Defense. Caption by Michael Carlowicz.