Tropical Storm Beryl, the second named storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, formed off the Carolina coast on the evening of the 18th of July. This first image was taken by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite early on the morning of the 18th, just before the system became a tropical depression. The image shows the horizontal distribution of rain intensity associated with a disturbance off of the southeastern US coastline that was the precursor to Beryl. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), and 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). The appearance of banding or curvature in the rain field (green arcs) is evidence of a developing low pressure circulation. The image was taken at 5:02 UTC (1:02 am EDT) 18 July 2006. By 11:00 am, this disturbance had become the second tropical depression of the season, TD #2.

TD #2 moved northward and slowly strengthened, becoming Tropical Storm Beryl on the evening of the 18th (local time). TRMM captured this image of Beryl as it continued to track northward just east of the outer banks. Beryl shows the classic signature of a tropical cyclone with rainbands (as shown in blue) spiraling around the center. However, TRMM also shows that Beryl does not have a well- developed eyewall with very little rain immediately surrounding the center. The lack of any strong convection near the center, which would show up in the rain intensities, indicates that Beryl was not poised to intensify. The image was taken at 4:07 UTC (12:07 am EDT) 17 July 2006. At the time of this image, Beryl was a weak tropical storm with maximum sustained winds reported at 40 mph by the National Hurricane Center.

ATLA.2006-7-19T0407Z________BERYL.qt( VERY LARGE Quicktime animation )
ATLA.2006-7-19T0407Z________BERYL_small.qt ( LARGE Quicktime animation )

TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).