NASA finds Tropical Storm Rene less affected by wind shear

NASA’s Terra satellite obtained visible imagery of Tropical Storm Rene is it continued moving north though the central North Atlantic Ocean. Rene appeared more organized on satellite imagery as wind shear eased.

NASA satellite view: Rene’s organization

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Rene on Sept. 10. Rene appeared slightly more circular. That is because vertical wind shear (outside winds blowing at different levels of the atmosphere) appears to have lessened somewhat over Rene allowing the storm to organize. The image showed Tropical Storm Paulette was located to Rene’s northwest.

Satellite imagery was created using NASA’s Worldview product at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Rene on Sept. 10

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on Sept. 10, the center of Tropical Storm Rene was located near latitude 18.6 degrees north and longitude 35.8 degrees west. Rene was about 800 miles (1,285 km) west-northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands.

Rene is moving toward the west-northwest near 12 mph (19 kph). This general motion is expected to continue for the next couple of days, followed by a turn toward the northwest. Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 50 mph (85 kph) with higher gusts. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1000 millibars.

NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted that additional strengthening is forecast for the next couple of days as vertical wind shear is not expected to be strong. Therefore, Rene is expected to become a hurricane by Saturday, Sept. 12. The storm is not expected to affect any land areas in the next five days, according to the NHC forecast.