Phenomena: Tropical cyclones, Hurricanes
Satellite: GOES-16 (GOES East)
Product: GeoColor
Instrument: Advanced Baseline Imagery (ABI)
Date: Oct. 8, 2024
Time: 6:30 p.m. EDT
On Oct. 8, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. EDT, NOAA’s GOES East satellite captured this imagery of Hurricane Milton approaching the Gulf Coast of Florida. At its most powerful, Milton’s maximum sustained winds reached 180 mph making the storm an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane.
By the time the eye of the storm had made landfall near Siesta Key in Sarasota County on the west coast of Florida, it was a Category 3 storm with winds up to 120 mph. According to NWS Miami, the Naples (Naples North Bay) Tidal Gauge reached a Mean Higher High Water (MHHW) of *5.08 feet* during the peak of Hurricane Milton's storm surge. The scope of what happened from this multifaceted disaster– from tornadoes, surge, rain and wind– will take time to fully understand.
The GOES East geostationary satellite, also known as GOES-16, keeps watch over most of North America, including the contiguous United States and Mexico, as well as Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west coast of Africa. The satellite's high-resolution imagery provides optimal viewing of severe weather events, including thunderstorms, tropical storms, and hurricanes.