Oklahoma City Before and After Tornado, 2013
The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite or Suomi NPP satellite carries an instrument so sensitive to low light levels that it can detect lightning in the middle of the night. The Day/Night band on Suomi/NPP produces night-time visible imagery using illumination from natural (the moon, forest fires) and man-made sources (city lights, gas flares). The image on the LEFT shows city lights, cloud cover, and lightning during the early morning hours of May 20 prior to the storms over Moore, OK and the Oklahoma City area. The image on the RIGHT was taken during the early morning of May 21 and shows city lights in the Oklahoma City area, but reduced light output in Moore, Oklahoma as a result of the major tornado that occurred during the afternoon of May 20. Storms from earlier in the day had shifted eastward, still visible in the imagery. Overall, severe weather associated with the storm was responsible for 29 fatalities (25 from tornadoes) and nearly 400 injuries in the United States. Additionally, damage was estimated to amount to $2-5 billion, making it one of the costliest severe weather events on record.
Size: 4800px × 2400px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -4, 18-21, 2013, 21st, america, american, atmospheric, century, city, comparison, conditions, earth, event, image, intense, meteorological, meteorology, national, natural, nighttime, npp, oklahoma, outbreak, partnership, phenomena, phenomenon, polar-orbiting, satellite, science, severe, space, states, storm, strong, suomi, supercell, thunderstorm, tornado, united, usa, violent, weather
