TRMM HURRICANE DENNIS

DENNIS MAKES LANDFALL IN THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE

Dennis hit Cuba on the evening of 8 July 2005 as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale with sustained winds of 125 knots (144 mph). The storm was responsible for 16 fatalities in Cuba. With its circulation disrupted by the island, Dennis emerged off of Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico in the early morning hours of the 9th as a much weaker storm. At one point, Dennis was reduced to a Category 1 storm with sustained winds down to 80 knots (92 mph) as reported by the National Hurricane Center. At dawn on the 9th of July, however, Dennis began a rather remarkable period of re-organization and re-intensifation as it made its way towards the northern Gulf Coast.

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite has been monitoring the progress of Dennis since it formed in the eastern Caribbean. Launched in 1997 to measure rainfall over the Tropics, TRMM continues to prove itself as an excellent platform for observing tropical cyclones. The first image was taken at 21:59 UTC (5:59 pm EDT) on 9 July 2005. The image shows the pattern of horizontal rain intensity obtained from TRMM's sensors. Rain rates in the center of the swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), the only radar measuring precipitation from space. Rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS). This image shows a rejuvenated Dennis with maximum sustained winds back up to 90 knots (104 mph). The eye is well formed and contains intense 2-inch-per-hour rain rates (dark red area) in the northeastern part of the eyewall, an indication that strong heating is occurring in the core and is reinvigorating the system.

Dennis would continue to strengthen, becoming a powerful Category 4 storm once again during the early morning hours of July 10th with maximum sustained winds back up to 125 knots (144 mph). Fortunately for residents in the Florida panhandle, Dennis weakened just before making landfall due to passing over slightly cooler water. Dennis made landfall around 3:30 pm CDT on the 10th just east of Pensacola, Florida as a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph. The final image was taken at 22:41 UTC (5:31 pm CDT) just after Dennis had made landfall. The eye is already open to the south as hurricanes tend to quickly weaken over land, and almost all of the rain is occurring north and east of the center (green and blue areas).