NASA Satellites Show Towering Thunderstorms

This 3-D view of Sub-tropical Storm Arani's clouds was created from data taken by NASA's TRMM satellite. It showed that there were very heavy thunderstorms (red) in the eastern half of the storm. TRMM's Precipitation Radar showed that some of these powerful storms were reaching to heights of over 14 km (~8.7 miles) above the surface of the Southern Atlantic Ocean. Credit: NASA/SSAI, Hal Pierce.

by Rob Gutro and Hal Pierce
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 17, 2011
NASA's Aqua and TRMM satellites are providing data to scientists about the Southern Atlantic Ocean Sub-tropical Storm Arani, a rare occurrence in the southern ocean. Rainfall data and cloud top temperatures revealed some heavy rain and strong thunderstorms exist in Arani as it continues to pull away from Brazil.

NOAA's Satellite and Information Service classified Arani as a T1 on the Dvorak intensity scale which would indicate an estimated wind speed of about 29 knots (~33 mph).

NASA Satellites Show Towering Thunderstorms