Tropical Storm Bill

  • Released Tuesday, June 23, 2015
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Explore views of the storm taken from space.

Explore views of the storm taken from space.

Although scientists predict 2015 will be a quiet year for Atlantic hurricanes, two storms have already been given names this season. The latest, Bill, was classified as a tropical storm when it made landfall over southeastern Texas on June 16, 2015. The storm produced high winds and heavy rains that triggered severe floods in parts of Texas and Oklahoma. From Earth orbit, astronauts aboard the International Space Station and NASA satellites captured images of the storm as it developed over the Gulf of Mexico, crossed onto land and traveled east over the United States. NASA’s GPM Core Observatory satellite also collected data of the storm’s rainfall rates. The data was combined with measurements from other satellites to estimate the storm’s accumulated rainfall and determine which areas were hit the hardest. Watch the video to see GPM’s view of the storm on June 17, 2015.

In this visualization, green to red is light to dense liquid precipitation; blue to purple is light to dense frozen precipitation.

A crewmember aboard the International Space Station captured this image of Tropical Storm Bill on June 16, 2015.

A crewmember aboard the International Space Station captured this image of Tropical Storm Bill on June 16, 2015.

Tropical Storm Bill as seen by NASA satellites on June 15 (left) and June 16 (right).

Tropical Storm Bill as seen by NASA satellites on June 15 (left) and June 16 (right).

The storm headed north after making landfall. Above are images of the storm taken by NASA satellites on June 17 (left) and June 18 (right).

The storm headed north after making landfall. Above are images of the storm taken by NASA satellites on June 17 (left) and June 18 (right).

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Cover image courtesy of NASA
International Space Station image courtesy of NASA
Satellite images courtesy of NASA/GSFC/MODIS Rapid Response

This page was originally published on Tuesday, June 23, 2015.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:49 PM EDT.