Low clouds filled California’s Central Valley in late January, 2015. Such winter fog is considered a common phenomenon, and can be so dense that it snarls traffic, causes fender-benders, and can make symptoms worse in those with respiratory disease. At the same time, the moist winter fog helps keep temperatures low in the rich agricultural region by reflecting sunlight and keeping the ground from warming, which helps keep the abundant fruit and nut trees dormant, allowing for bountiful harvests. Scientific studies have reported that winter fogs (also called Thule fogs) are occurring less frequently in the Central Valley. One study, by Dennis Baldocchi and Eric Waller, was published in May, 2014. It finds that since 1981 the number of fog days between November and February has decreased by 46 percent. The severe drought that California has experienced in recent years may also have decreased the number of fog events even more since 2012. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image on January 24, 2015. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a> Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a> Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a>

Satellite Sees Miriam Weaken to a Tropical Storm

This visible image of Tropical Storm Miriam was captured by NOAA's GOES-15 satellite on Sept. 26, 2012 at 10:45 a.m. EDT off the coast of Baja California. The strongest thunderstorms were in a large band of thunderstorms north and northwest of the center. Miriam is banked to the north and west by an extensive field of stratocumulus clouds. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project ---- Once a powerful hurricane, Miriam is now a tropical storm off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. Tropical Storm Miriam was seen in the Eastern Pacific Ocean by NOAA's GOES-15 satellite, and the visible image revealed that the strongest part of the storm was north and west of the center. NOAA's GOES-15 satellite sits in a fixed position over the western U.S. that allows it to monitor the Eastern Pacific Ocean and it captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Miriam on Sept. 26, 2012 at 10:45 a.m. EDT off the coast of Baja California. The strongest thunderstorms were north and northwest of the center in a large band, wrapping around the center of the tropical storm. Miriam is banked to the north and west by an extensive field of stratocumulus clouds Wind shear is taking its toll on Miriam. The National Hurricane Center noted there is an increasing "separation between the low- to mid-level centers of the storm (think of the storm as having multiple layers) due to 20-25 knots of southwesterly shear associated with a shortwave trough (elongated area of low pressure) rotating around the northwestern side of the storm. At 11 a.m. EDT on Sept. 26, Tropical Storm Miriam had maximum sustained winds near 65 mph (100 kph), dropping from 70 mph (100 kmh) just six hours before. It was located about 425 miles (680 km) west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California Miriam was moving slowly at 6 mph (9 kmh) to the north-northwest and away from the coast. Miriam's minimum central pressure was near 992 millibars. A Miriam continues to pull away from Baja California, rough ocean swells will keep affecting the south and west coasts today, Sept. 26, and tomorrow, Sept. 27. By Sept. 28, Friday, the ocean swells will gradually begin to subside. Miriam is moving into a region where wind shear is forecast to increase and sea surface temperatures will fall. Those are two factors that will contribute to the weakening of the tropical storm over the next several days. Rob Gutro NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Image: NASA GOES Project <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a> Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a> Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a>

Long Smoke Plumes from California Destructive Bluecut Fire Spotted by NASA MISR

On Aug. 16, 2016, at around 10:30 a.m., a brush fire ignited in the Cajon Pass east of Los Angeles, just to the west of Interstate 15. Within a matter of hours, extreme temperatures, high winds and low humidity allowed the fire to spread rapidly, burning through brush left tinder-dry by years of drought. Firefighters quickly responded, ordering the evacuation of about 83,000 people in and around the Cajon Pass, Wrightwood, Lytle Creek, Oak Hills and surrounding areas. An as-yet uncounted number of homes and structures have burned, and Interstate 15 remains closed to downed power lines and barrier damage. By Aug. 17, the fire had expanded to more than 30,000 acres and remains zero percent contained as some 1,300 firefighters continue to battle to save homes and evacuate residents. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite passed over the region on Aug. 17 around 11:50 a.m. PDT and captured this natural-color image from MISR's 70-degree forward-viewing camera, which covers an areas about 257 miles (414 kilometers) wide. The oblique view angle makes the smoke more apparent than it would be in a more conventional vertical view. The Los Angeles metropolitan area is the large gray area on the coast in the center of the image. Three plumes from the Blue Cut Fire are clearly visible in the mountains to the north. This oblique view also shows an enormous cloud of smoke spreading northeastward over a significant portion of eastern California and Nevada. This smoke probably originated from the fire as it consumed almost 20,000 acres on the evening of the 16th and traveled north overnight. Also visible from this oblique view is considerable haziness filling California's Central Valley, to the northwest of the Blue Cut Fire. This haziness is most likely due to smoke from several other fires burning in California, including the Soberanes Fire near Monterey, the Clayton Fire that has destroyed 175 structures north of San Francisco, the Chimney Fire and the Cedar Fire, which is visible in the image in the southern Sierra Nevada. The total number of acres burned in California this year has tripled in just the past week. The 3D stereo anaglyph is made by combining data from MISR's 60-degree and 70-degree forward-viewing cameras. You will need red-blue glasses to view the 3D effect (ensure the red lens is over your left eye). In order to enable stereo viewing, the image has been rotated so north is to the left. These data were acquired during Terra orbit 88648. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20888

Satellite View of the Americas on Earth Day

Today, April 22, 2014 is Earth Day, and what better way to celebrate than taking a look at our home planet from space. NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured this stunning view of the Americas on Earth Day, April 22, 2014 at 11:45 UTC/7:45 a.m. EDT. The data from GOES-East was made into an image by the NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. In North America, clouds associated with a cold front stretch from Montreal, Canada, south through the Tennessee Valley, and southwest to southern Texas bringing rain east of the front today. A low pressure area in the Pacific Northwest is expected to bring rainfall in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, stretching into the upper Midwest, according to NOAA's National Weather Service. That low is also expected to bring precipitation north into the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. Another Pacific low is moving over southern Nevada and the National Weather Service expects rain from that system to fall in central California, Nevada, and northern Utah. Near the equator, GOES imagery shows a line of pop up thunderstorms. Those thunderstorms are associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The ITCZ encircles the Earth near the equator. In South America, convective (rapidly rising air that condenses and forms clouds) thunderstorms pepper Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and northwestern and southeastern Brazil. GOES satellites provide the kind of continuous monitoring necessary for intensive data analysis. Geostationary describes an orbit in which a satellite is always in the same position with respect to the rotating Earth. This allows GOES to hover continuously over one position on Earth's surface, appearing stationary. As a result, GOES provide a constant vigil for the atmospheric "triggers" for severe weather conditions such as tornadoes, flash floods, hail storms and hurricanes. For more information about GOES satellites, visit: <a href="http://www.goes.noaa.gov/" rel="nofollow">www.goes.noaa.gov/</a> or <a href="http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow">goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/</a> Rob Gutro NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a> Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a> Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a>

NASA Sees Hurricane Celia Headed for Central Pacific

Hurricane Celia is currently in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, but once it passes west of 140 degrees west longitude, warnings on the system will be issued by NOAA's Central Pacific Hurricane Center. On July 11 at 22:05 UTC (6:05 p.m. EDT) the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA-DOD's Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible light image of Hurricane Celia that showed a cloud-filled eye with powerful bands of thunderstorms wrapping around the low level center. The VIIRS image also showed a large band of thunderstorms that extended to the south, wrapping into the storms' eastern quadrant. At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on July 12 the center of Hurricane Celia was located near 16.2 north latitude and 127.9 west longitude. That's about 1,260 miles (2,025 km) west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico. It was moving to the west-northwest at 10 mph (17 kph) and NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC) expects Celia to turn toward the northwest later today, with this motion continuing Tuesday night and Wednesday. Maximum sustained winds were near 100 mph (155 kph). NHC forecasts weakening over the next two days and Celia could weaken to a tropical storm on Wednesday. Read more: NASA Sees Hurricane Celia Headed for Central Pacific Credit: NASA/Goddard/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a> Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a> Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a>