Satellite Image of the Day: August 9, 2004
 (click here for previous images of the day)

Satellite: NOAA-17, one of NOAA's 850km-high (530 mile-high) Polar Orbiting satellites.
August 9, 2004; flyover beginning 12:12pm EDT
Another hurricane???
According to the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service,
"NOAA’s 2004 Atlantic hurricane season outlook indicates a 50% probability of an above-normal hurricane season, a 40% probability of a near-normal season, and a 10% chance of a below-normal season, according to a consensus of scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center (CPC), the Hurricane Research Division (HRD), and the National Hurricane Center (NHC). ... The outlook calls for 12-15 tropical storms, with 6-8 becoming hurricanes, and 2-4 of these becoming major hurricanes."

There is a circular rotation of clouds just off of the Yucatan Peninsula in Central America.
Sometimes, hurricanes come at us from that direction is conditions are right. Stay tuned...
Click on the image below for a higher-resolution image (over 100k).

Thermal image of the same area as at left.
The tops of the clouds are quite cold, and the water below and near this cloud system is fairly warm, maybe even warm enough to develop into another hurricane???