Hurricane Watch
NASA tracks two storms churning in the Pacific Ocean.
In late August 2015, NASA satellites observed three hurricanes simultaneously traveling west across the Pacific Ocean. Almost exactly one year later, two powerful storms were spotted whirling on a similar course. Hurricane Madeline and Lester began as tropical storms in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Within days of their formation, the storms intensified into Category 4 hurricanes, with maximum sustained winds near 130 mph. On August 29, 2016, satellite images showed both storms appeared to be headed toward Hawaii. On September 1, 2016, Madeline passed south of the Big Island of Hawaii and by that time had weakened significantly. Hurricane Lester continues to march west across the central Pacific Ocean. Explore the video and images for views of the storms captured from space.
This animation of satellite imagery from August 27-30, 2016, shows the movement of Hurricane Madeline and Lester in the Pacific Ocean.
Image of Hurricane Madeline captured by NASA's Aqua satellite on Aug. 30, 2016.
Image of Hurricane Lester captured by NASA's Terra satellite on Aug. 30, 2016.
Hurricane Madeline (center) and Lester (right) approach Hawaii (left) in this composite image taken by the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Cover image and video courtesy of NASA/NOAA GOES Project
Satellite images courtesy of NASA/Worldview
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Writers
Release date
This page was originally published on Thursday, September 1, 2016.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:48 PM EDT.