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Hurricane Stan
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Hurricane Stan |
| Description |
Despite hitting a relatively remote section of the Mexican coastline as a Category 1 hurricane, Stan's effects were felt across the region as 49 people died in El Salvador as a result of mudslides brought on by related storms. A total of 65 people perished across the entire region as a result of Stan. Stan became the 18th named storm of an extremely active 2005 hurricane season on October 1, 2005, just east of the Yucatan Peninsula in the far western Caribbean. Moving west, Stan quickly made landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula, which it traversed as a weak tropical storm. After re-emerging over warm water in the Bay of Campeche, Stan turned to the southwest and began to intensify. The storm, however, did not have much room to grow over water before encountering the Mexican coastline and so made landfall south of Vera Cruz, Mexico, as a Category 1 hurricane. The image above shows observations obtained from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) at 10:05 UTC (6:05 am EDT) on October 4. It shows Stan making landfall along the coast of Vera Cruz, Mexico. A band of intense rain (dark red areas) is visible as part of the eastern eyewall, with additional heavy rain associated with an outer rain band located just offshore along the coast. At the time of the image, Stan was a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds reported at 120 kilometers per hour (75 miles per hour) by the National Hurricane Center. The TRMM satellite has been measuring rainfall over the tropics since its launch in 1997. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and captioned by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
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Hurricane Stan Floods Centra
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Hurricane Stan Floods Central America |
| Description |
By standard measures, Stan was a small storm. It formed as a tropical depression on October 1, 2005, and barely reached hurricane status before going ashore in southern Mexico on October 4. In the intervening period, the storm moved over the Yucatan Peninsula, drenching Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico with heavy rain. Though the winds never reached more than 130 kilometers per hour (80 miles per hour), the storm proved to be one of the most devastating since Hurricane Mitch struck the region in 1998. Stan dropped heavy rains on parts of Central America for several days, triggering deadly floods and landslides. This image, made using data collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]) satellite between September 29 and October 5, 2005, shows rainfall totals over the affected countries. The highest rainfall is shown in deep red, while the lightest is in blue. The rainfall data is laid over a topographical map. As this image illustrates, the rain fell over steep mountains. The water released sections of earth, and both water and mud flooded the populated valleys. Floods and mudslides forced thousands from their homes and damaged roads and bridges throughout the region. News reports claim that more than 100 people have died in the floods, but differ on the exact number. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center provides estimates of rainfall over the global Tropics. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. NASA image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
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