Rita's Rainfall Intensifies on September 21

NASA's TRMM spacecraft is used to understand Hurricane Rita. TRMM observed this view of Hurricane Rita on September 21, 2005 at 0909Z. At this time the storm was a category 3 hurricane with a minimum pressure of 956mb, sustained winds of 105 knots, and a 25 nautical mile eye diameter. The cloud cover is taken by TRMM's Visible and Infrared Scanner(VIRS) and the GOES spacecraft. The rain structure is taken by TRMM's Tropical Microwave Imager (TMI). It looks underneath of the storm's clouds to reveal the underlying rain structure. Blue represents areas with at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. Green shows at least 0.5 inches of rain per hour. Yellow is at least 1.0 inches of rain and red is at least 2.0 inches of rain per hour