Hurricane Season 2011: Tropical Storm Aere (Western North Pacific Ocean)

NASA Satellite Sees Tropical Storm Aere Leave Deadly Path in Philippines

NASA's Aqua satellite flew over what has grown into Tropical Storm Aere every day this past weekend, as it dropped heavy rainfall, created mudslides and took lives in the eastern Philippines. Infrared satellite imagery from Aqua revealed the strong thunderstorms responsible for the heavy rainfall.

In a time series of imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite, the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument showed Tropical Storm Aere's progress over the weekend on May 6 at 16:59 UTC, May 7 at 05:29 UTC, and Monday, May 9 at 05:17 UTC. Infrared data basically takes the temperature of a tropical cyclone's clouds and the coldest areas indicate the strongest thunderstorms and areas of heaviest rainfall. Those coldest cloud temperatures (highest, strongest thunderstorms) and are as cold as or colder than -63F/-52C.

On May 6, when Aere was a tropical depression (03W) it appeared to be more concentrated with the heaviest rainfall and strongest thunderstorms over open ocean. By Saturday, May 7, those heavy rains overspread land areas. On Monday, May 9, the circulation seemed to become weaker and convection (rapidly rising air that forms the thunderstorms) seemed to appear more scattered and has decreased in AIRS imagery.

Warnings are still in effect in the Philippines as Aere continues to move north. Public storm warning signal #1 is in effect in the following provinces: Luzon: Quirino, Ifugao, Mt. Province, Kalinga, Apayao and Batanes. Public storm warning signal #2 is in effect for: Luzon: Cagayan, Babuya and Calayan.

The four fatalities caused by Tropical Storm Aere occurred in Balatan, Camarines Sur where a landslide took three lives, and another person drowned in floodwaters in Leyte. Radio reports also noted that nine people at the Manila airport were injured when lightning struck a plane on the tarmac on May 7.

On May 9 at 1500 UTC (11:00 a.m. EDT), Tropical Storm Aere, formerly known as Tropical Depression 03W continued to bring rainfall to the Philippines. Its center was about 215 miles (346 km) north-northeast of Manila near 18.0 North and 122.3 East. It was moving north near 9 knots and had maximum sustained winds near 40 knots (46 mph/74 kmh). Aere, known locally in the Philippines as "Bebing," was creating rough waves on eastern-facing shores, as wave heights were reaching up to 13 feet (4 meters).

Aere is now moving along the east coast of Luzon Island and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecasts the tropical storm to soon move into the open waters south of Taiwan and then move northeast through the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. Aere is expected to become extratropical south of Japan.

Text Credit: Rob Gutro, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD