Huge post-tropical Hurricane Igor drenched Newfoundland, Canada

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NASA/JPL, Ed Olsen

NASA MODIS Rapid Response Team

Hurricane Igor may have transitioned into a post-tropical hurricane late yesterday, but when he approached Newfoundland, Canada and merged with an area of low pressure it resulted in heavy rainfall throughout the region. NASA satellites captured Igor's northern march toward the Labrador Sea yesterday. NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites captured visible and infrared images of Hurricane Igor yesterday as he brought heavy rainfall into northeastern Canada. A visible image of Hurricane Igor over Newfoundland, Canada was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite on Sept. 21 at 14:15 UTC (10:15 a.m. EDT). At that time, Igor had re-strengthened and an eye appeared on the visible imagery.

One and a half hours later, at 1553 UTC (11:53 a.m. EDT), NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Hurricane Igor's cold thunderstorms that extended from Labrador, Canada eastward over southern Greenland. Igor was moving northward toward into the Labrador Sea toward Labrador and Baffin Island.

At 5 p.m. EDT on Sept. 21, Igor completed its post-tropical transition and its core went from a warm core, tropical system to a cold core system. At that time, he was 125 miles north-northeast of St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada near 49.3 North and 51.7 West. Igor still had sustained hurricane-force winds of 80 mph although they are expected to weaken today, Sept. 22. Igor's minimum central pressure was 950 millibars, and he was moving north-northeast near a super-speedy 39 mph!

As Igor moved north his circulation continued increase. By 5 p.m. EDT on Sept. 21, tropical-storm force winds extended outward up to 520 miles from its center making the system over 1,000 miles wide!

Environment Canada noted that Hurricane Igor passed just south and east of Newfoundland on Tuesday, Sept. 21 and brought heavy rain and strong winds. Heavy rainfall extended far north and west of Igor's center as it neared Newfoundland, and hurricane-force winds were reported even into the evening.

A trough of low pressure (an elongated area of low pressure) that had passed over Newfoundland the day before (Monday) Igor arrived was still in the vicinity and interacted with the hurricane. The trough took moisture and energy from Igor and caused more heavy rainfall over the region. There were reports of extensive flooding, power outages and wind damage throughout the eastern half of Newfoundland over the last two days. Igor is one storm that the Atlantic will not miss.

Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center