Hurricane Ike Attacks the Gulf Coast on September 12, 2008

NASA's TRMM spacecraft observed this view of Hurricane Ike on September 12, 2008 at 1035Z or 6:35 AM EST. At this time the storm was an extremely dangerous category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 90 knots (103 mph) and a pressure reading of 953 millibars. Hurricane-force winds were extending outward 120 miles from the center, while tropical storm-force winds extend up to 275 miles. Size matters when it comes to hurricanes. Larger storms produce a wider swath of wind damage and stir up the water that create a surge on a longer coastline. With Hurricane Ike, the wind field is exceptionally large and so is the destructive potential for storm surge. Surge flooding up to 25 feet is expected. The cloud cover in this animation is taken by TRMM's Visible and Infrared Scanner(VIRS) and the GOES spacecraft. The rain structure is taken by TRMM's Tropical Microwave Imager (TMI) and TRMM's Precitation Radar(PR) instruments. TRMM looks underneath of the storm's clouds to reveal the underlying rain structure. Blue represents areas with at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. Green shows at least 0.5 inches of rain per hour. Yellow is at least 1.0 inches of rain and red is at least 2.0 inches of rain per hour.