Hurricane Frances (06L) off Puerto Rico

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image of Hurricane Frances swirling above the waters of the tropical Atlantic Ocean on August 31, at 14:45 UTC (10:45 AM EDT). At the time this image was taken Frances was located approximately 285 km (175 miles) northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico and was moving towards the west at 24 km/hr (15 mph). Maximum sustained winds were near 215 km/hr (135 mph) with a minimum central pressure of 950 mb. This makes Frances a Category 4 storm on the Saffir/Simpson Scale.

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Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published August 31, 2004
Data acquired August 31, 2004

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Terra > MODIS

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MODIS Rapid Response

Visible Earth