Hurricane Katrina over Florida

  • Credit

    Jeff Schmaltz

Hurricane Katrina struck Florida on Thursday, August 24 at about 6:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Although Katrina is a relatively weak Category 1 hurricane - with maximum sustained winds between 64 and 83 knots (74 and 95 mph) – it still managed to inflict considerable damage. According to the Associated Press, four people have been killed by falling trees or in car accidents associated with the storm; another five people are missing at sea. Katrina has also left over 1.2 million without electricity. After making landfall in South Florida, the storm veered into the Gulf of Mexico, where it will likely regain strength, possibly striking the “panhandle” of Florida late Sunday or early Monday. Hurricanes are types of tropical cyclones, or rotating masses of air centered on an area of low atmospheric pressure. While tropical cyclones are often highly destructive in terms of human lives and property, they form an important part of the biosphere by transferring heat energy from the tropics to the mid-latitudes and polar regions.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Terra/MODIS

  • MODIS Bands

    1, 4, 3

  • Display Date

    January 5, 2005