See SMALL 3-D ANIMATION of Slice See LARGE 3-D ANIMATION of Slice TRMM Spies on the Birth of Hurricane Lili These images show slices through the heart of Tropical Storm Lili, as taken by NASA and JAXA's Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite. TRMM unveils the rain structure, shown in color, within the clouds (white). Light rain is shown in blue; extreme rain rates, in red. On September 28, Lili was southeast of Cuba, but winds in the tropical storm were blowing at a steady 45 kts. The first image shows the cone-shaped eye, newly developed and surrounded by moderate intensity rain clouds. Also shown is a prominent rainband feeding in toward the storm's inner core. The second image reveals towering clouds that helped power Lili's growth, called "chimney clouds". The chimneys contain intense updrafts which release copious amounts of heat energy inside the storm. The tops of these giant clouds tower to 16 km and exist at a temperature as cold as -120 degrees Fahrenheit. Like Hurricane Isidore, Lili followed a similar path northwest through the Yucatan Strait into the Gulf of Mexico, and the Gulf Coast states are once again under the gun.
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