August 6, 2019 - Tropical Storm Lekima

Lekima formed early on August 4 as Tropical Depression 10W and strengthened into a tropical storm on August 5, when it was renamed Lekima.

NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over Lekima on August 5, allowing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying on board to acquire a true-color image of the storm as it tracked northeast of the island of Luzon, Phillippines.

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Lekima was located near latitude 19.2 degrees north and 129.5 degrees east longitude. Lekima’s center is about 456 nautical miles south-southeast of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa Island, Japan. It was moving to the northwest and had maximum sustained winds near 35 knots (40 mph/64 kph). In the Philippines, Lekima is called Hanna.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecasts that Lekima will move northwest as it slightly strengthens, and make landfall over northern Taiwan on August 9, then make a final landfall in mainland China.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 8/5/2019
Resolutions: 1km (2.2 MB), 500m (6.3 MB), 250m (5.1 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC