Start Date: End Date: Published Date Data Date
Data acquired May 5 - 12, 2011 720 x 480 PNG
Tropical Storm Aere formed in early May 2011, just east of the Philippines. Channel News Asia and Unisys Weather reported that the storm made landfall on May 8. By May 13, the Philippine government reported that the storm’s death toll in that nation stood at 31. Besides strong winds, the storm brought torrential rains that caused flash floods and landslides.
This color-coded image shows estimated rainfall amounts from May 5 to 12, 2011. The lowest rainfall amounts (less than 75 millimeters, or 3 inches) appear in pale green, and the heaviest amounts (more than 600 millimeters, or 24 inches) appear in dark blue. The heaviest rainfall forms a kind of bull’s eye over the easternmost islands, southeast of Manila. Rainfall amounts fall farther away from this area, but rain still affects a broad swath across the central Philippines.
Over the course of its existence, Tropical Storm Aere traveled in a large arc. The storm passed over the northern Philippines, and passed east of Taiwan before curving back toward the northeast. Aere dissipated south of Japan.
Tropical storms and damaging rains frequently affect the Philippines, Typhoon Megi, Tropical Storm Conson, and Tropical Storm Ketsana being just a few of the storms to cause widespread damage. Torrential rains can also affect the islands even without the influence of named storms, such as heavy rains in January 2011.
This image is based on data from the Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis produced at Goddard Space Flight Center, which estimates rainfall by combining measurements from many satellites and calibrating them using rainfall measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using near-real-time data provided courtesy of TRMM Science Data and Information System at Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.
Published May 16, 2011 Data acquired May 5 - 12, 2011