Hurricane Season 2010: Tropical Storm 90Q (Southern Atlantic)

The second–ever known tropical cyclone in the South Atlantic Ocean can't escape satellite eyes, and today, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-12 captured a visible image of Tropical Storm 90Q now located off the coast of Argentina.GOES-12 satellite captured an image of Tropical Storm 90Q at 1745 UTC (12:45 p.m. ET) today, March 12, when it was more than 1,350 miles east of Buenos Aires, Argentina, approximately near 36.5 degrees South latitude and 34.8 degrees West longitude. At 10 a.m. ET today, Tropical Storm 90Q still had maximum sustained winds near 46 mph (40 knots).GOES-12 is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and images are created by NASA's GOES Project, located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.Tropical Storm 90Q is now moving quickly in a southeasterly direction and is starting to interact with a mid-latitude frontal system. By the end of the weekend, the Southern Atlantic Ocean's second tropical storm in recorded history is expected to be merged with a cold front and just remain in the history books.Rob Gutro, NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterTropical Storm 90Q is the second known tropical cyclone to form in the cooler South Atlantic Ocean, and two NASA satellites confirm it is now moving away from Brazil's coast. The first tropical cyclone ever seen in recorded history in the Southern Atlantic was called "Catarina" in 2004.The Naval Research Laboratory has provided information on the system, although they will not issue a formal tropical cyclone declaration because the Southern Atlantic is not currently covered by a Regional Specialist Meteorological Center (because tropical cyclones typically don't appear there), however, that may change in the future.At 0845 UTC (3:45 a.m. ET) today, March 11, Tropical Storm 90Q had maximum sustained winds near 46 mph (40 knots). It was located about 325 miles east of Porto Alegre, Brazil in the waters of the South Atlantic Ocean near 30.0 South latitude and 45.8 West longitude.On Wednesday, March 10, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, or TRMM satellite had a fairly good pass this over Tropical Storm 90Q in the morning hours and showed some heavy rainfall, falling at a rate as much as 2 inches per hour on the storm's southeastern side. TRMM satellite data was used at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. to create a 3-D image of 90Q. The image showed some fairly high thunderstorm tops near the center of the storm reaching to heights above 12.5 km (over 41,010 feet), which corresponds with the areas of heavy rain. The TRMM satellite is managed by both NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA.Early today, March 11, the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of 90Q. The infrared image showed some high, cold thunderstorms in the center of the storm, confirming strong convection in the storm."The only other tropical cyclone known to have occurred in the Southern Atlantic Ocean developed in March, 2004," said Hal Pierce, meteorologist on the TRMM satellite team at NASA Goddard. "That's when a hurricane called "Catarina" made landfall on March 28, 2004 near the town of Torres in Rio Grande do Sul, near the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina (thus, the storm's name). It was the first "hurricane" ever observed by satellite in the south Atlantic." One agency in Brazil also issued warnings on the storm calling it "1-T Alfa."Tropical Storm 90Q will continue moving in a general easterly direction away from the Brazilian coast and weaken before being absorbed by a mid-latitude cold front this weekend.For TRMM images of 2004's Hurricane Catarina: http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/publications_dir/south_atlantic_cyclone.html Rob Gutro, NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterTropical cyclones typically don't form in the Southern Atlantic because the waters are usually too cool. However, forecasters at the Naval Research Laboratory noted that a low pressure system off the coast of Brazil appeared to have tropical storm-force winds yesterday.On Wednesday, March 10 at 1400 UTC (9:00 a.m. ET) "System 90Q" was located near 29.8 degrees South latitude and 48.2 degrees West longitude, about 180 miles east of Porto Alegre, Brazil. The Naval Research Laboratory said on March 10 the system had maximum sustained winds near 39 mph (35 knots) but has weakened today below the tropical storm-force winds threshold.The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-12 captured a visible image of System 90Q at 14:45 UTC (9:45 a.m. ET) on March 11, and it appeared as a small circular area of clouds off the Brazilian coast. GOES is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA's GOES Project, located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. creates some of the GOES satellite images.System 90Q continues to move away from the Brazilian coast and is expected to be absorbed in a mid-latitude cold front in the next couple of days.Rob Gutro, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center