Goodbye to TRMM, Japan's first rain radar in space

Artist concept of TRMM in space over the eye of a tropical cyclone. 

Credit: NASA

After 17 years of groundbreaking 3-D images of rain and storms, the joint NASA and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) will come to an end next year.

NASA predicts that science operations will cease in or about April 2015, based on the most recent analysis by mission operations at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.

On July 8, 2014, pressure readings from the fuel tank indicated that TRMM was near the end of its fuel supply.

As a result, NASA ceased station-keeping maneuvers that would keep the satellite at its operating altitude of 402 km (249.8 miles).

Atmospheric drag is slowing TRMM, and it has begun its slow drift downward. Some fuel has been retained to conduct debris avoidance maneuvers to ensure the satellite remains safe during the drift down to re-entry, which is predicted to occur in the summer of 2015.

Originally launched in 1997 as a three-year mission, TRMM's extended mission life has provided a boon to the scientific understanding of precipitation and its role in broad weather patterns and climate.

TRMM has allowed scientists to better understand how rain varies daily, seasonally and annually; how El Niño affects global rain patterns; how regional rain events like the Indian monsoon vary throughout the season; and even how humans have affected local precipitation through the effects of urban heat islands, deforestation and pollution.

"TRMM has been the world's foremost satellite for the study of precipitation and climate processes in the tropics, and an invaluable resource for tropical cyclone research and operations," says TRMM Project Scientist Scott Braun at NASA Goddard.

"Data from TRMM will continue to foster science well after the mission ends, and, when combined with data from the new Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory (GPM), launched earlier this year by NASA's partner the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), will contribute to a long-term precipitation climate record."

This 3-D image of Hurricane Sandy's rainfall was created using TRMM Precipitation Radar data. 

It shows the storm as it appeared on Oct. 28, 2012. 

Credit: NASA /SSAI, Hal Pierce

Orbiting at an angle to the equator that covers 35 degrees north to 35 degrees south of the equator, TRMM carries five instruments that collectively measure the intensity of rainfall, characteristics of the water vapour and clouds, and lightning associated with the rain events.

One of the instruments, the Precipitation Radar, built by JAXA, is the first precipitation radar flown in space.

It returns images of storms that for the first time have revealed close-up, 3-D views of how rain bands in tropical cyclones develop, potentially indicating how strong the storms might become.

NASA TRMM: Tropical Storm Kammuri's spiral bands of soaking thunderstorms

NASA TRMM satellite flew over the northern half of Tropical Storm Kammuri on Sept. 26 at 1:44 a.m. EDT and saw a strong band of thunderstorms dropping rainfall over 1.2 inches per hour (red). 

Credit: NRL /NASA /JAXA

Tropical Storm Kammuri continues to strengthen on its north-northwestern track through the Northwestern Pacific Ocean and NASA TRMM satellite identified a band of thunderstorms containing heavy rainfall northwest of the storm's center.

Meanwhile NASA's Aqua satellite got a look at the entire storm and saw that those bands of storms circled the entire storm.

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite flew over the northern half of Tropical Storm Kammuri on Sept. 26 at 1:44 a.m. EDT and the Precipitation Radar instrument saw a strong band of thunderstorms dropping rainfall over 1.2 inches (30.4 mm) per hour.

The TRMM satellite is managed by both NASA and JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured infrared data on Tropical Storm Kammuri on Sept. 26 at 03:11 UTC (Sept. 25 at 11:11 p.m. EDT) and saw strong bands of towering thunderstorms with cold cloud temperatures around the entire storm.

Cloud top temperatures exceeded -63F/-53C indicating they extended high into the troposphere and had the potential to generate heavy rainfall, such as what the TRMM satellite observed.

Animated enhanced infrared satellite imagery also showed that the low-level circulation center is consolidating as the bands of thunderstorms spiraled into the rounded center.

On Sept. 26 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT), Tropical Storm Kammuri had maximum sustained winds near 55 knots (63 mph/102 kph). It was centered near 23.5 north latitude and 145.3 east longitude, about 252 nautical miles (290 miles/466.7 km) east-southeast of the island of Iwo To, Japan.

Kammuri is moving to the north-northwest at 10 knots (11.5 mph/18.5 kph).

Kammuri is still forecast to intensify as it moves in a north-northwesterly direction through warm sea surface temperatures, toward the island of Iwo To.

Forecasters at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center expect Kammuri to be typhoon strength as it passes east of the island of Iwo To on Sept. 27 and begin weakening on Sept. 29 while curving to the northeast staying from the big island of Japan.


The AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured infrared data on Tropical Storm Kammuri on Sept. 26 at 03:11 UTC and saw strong bands of towering thunderstorms with cold cloud temperatures (purple) around the entire storm. 

Credit: Image Credit: NASA JPL, Ed Olsen

NASA TRMM: Tropical Storm losing its strength

When TRMM passed over Tropical Storm Karina on August 19, there was an isolated area of heavy rain (red) in the western quadrant where rain was falling at a rate of 2 inches/40 mm per hour. 

Credit: NASA /SSAI, Hal Pierce

Tropical Storm Karina continues to weaken in the Eastern Pacific over open waters, and NASA data shows there's not much punch left in the storm.

NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite can measure the rate of rainfall from its orbit in space and when it passed over Tropical Storm Karina in the Eastern Pacific it saw an isolated area of heavy rain remaining in the storm.

Tropical Storm Karina weakened during the overnight hours and by Tuesday, August 19, maximum sustained winds had decreased to near 60 mph (95 kph).

When TRMM passed overhead at 03:04 UTC (11:04 p.m. EDT, Aug. 18) on August 19, TRMM Precipitation Radar showed that there was an isolated area of heavy rain in the western quadrant where rain was falling at a rate of 2 inches/50 mm per hour.

Cloud heights in the area of the heaviest rainfall were just under 10 kilometers indicating that the uplift in the storm is weakening, as clouds reached greater heights earlier in the week.

Forecaster Berg at NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted today "Water vapour imagery suggests that the outflow from Tropical Storm Lowell may be helping to produce southeasterly shear over Karina, and the low-level center is now exposed to the east of a small area of deep convection."

At 5 a.m. EDT on August 19, the center of Tropical Storm Karina was located near latitude 15.7 north and longitude 134.0 west, about 1,415 miles (2,275 km) east of Hilo, Hawaii. Karina is moving toward the west-southwest near 7 mph (11 kph) and is forecast to turn westward and slow down soon. The estimated minimum central pressure is 999 millibars.

Two computer models used by the NHC to forecast tropical cyclones: the Florida State Super ensemble and HWRF models, weaken Karina to a tropical depression in about 72 hours.

NASA/JAXA GPM: precipitation satellite passes check-out, starts mission

The GPM Core Observatory collects precipitation information that unifies data from an international network of existing and future satellites to map global rainfall and snowfall every three hours. 

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Debbie McCallum

The new Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory satellite is now in the hands of the engineers who will fly the spacecraft and ensure the steady flow of data on rain and snow for the life of the mission.

The official handover to the Earth Science Mission Operations team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on May 29, marked the end of a successful check-out period.

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Its GPM Core Observatory launched on Feb. 27, 2014, from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.

The satellite's two science instruments collect observations of rainfall and snowfall worldwide. Since launch, the satellite has gone through a thorough check-out of all its systems and reached its final orbit of 253 miles (407 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

"Commissioning has gone very well," said Mission Systems Engineer David Ward of NASA Goddard at GPM's Post-Launch Acceptance Review on May 15. "The issues that have occurred have been relatively minor. We're in very good shape."

The check-out period is like taking a new car out on a road trip – the engineers in the driver's seat learn how it handles and make adjustments to find the "sweet spots" for smooth flying and data collection.

In the first weeks after launch the Flight Operations Team at Goddard, supported by the engineers who built the spacecraft, turned on spacecraft systems and ran them through normal procedures.

On May 29, GPM Deputy Project Manager Candace Carlisle (left) handed over the 'key' to the GPM Core Observatory to GPM Mission Director James Pawloski (center, blue shirt). 

Also pictured, left to right, Wynn Watson, Art Azarbarzin, Gail Skofronick-Jackson and David Ward. 

Credit: NASA

The team turned on both science instruments a few days after launch: the GPM Microwave Imager on March 1, and the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar on March 2.

Two weeks after launch, both instruments were collecting data and the team had begun calibration procedures to ensure that the data returned is as accurate as possible.

"We're doing really well," said Erich Stocker, GPM deputy project scientist and project manager for the Precipitation Processing System at Goddard, which handles data for GPM and its predecessor satellite, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM).

"GMI is the best calibrated radiometer out of the box that we've ever had. And DPR is well-calibrated for this stage," he said, noting that the instrument can pick up weather elements, like classic thunderstorm anvil-shaped clouds, which TRMM could not.

A series of propulsion burns in March and early April took the Core Observatory into its final orbit at 253 miles.

At that altitude, however, drag is still a problem – a very thin layer of atmosphere still exists, which can slow down a quickly moving satellite with two extended solar arrays.

In low Earth orbit, slowing down means losing altitude. To counteract the drag, the thrusters had a planned burn every week to maintain speed and altitude.

After evaluating how well the solar arrays were collecting power – very well – the flight team made minute adjustments to the angle of the arrays to reduce drag, reducing the need for altitude maintenance burns to every other week.

NASA TRMM: Tropical Cyclone Ita's Australian encounter

This TRMM satellite rainfall map covers Tropical Cyclone Ita's life from April 1-14. 

Highest isolated rainfall was estimated around 400 mm/15.7 inches west of both Ingham and Townsville, Queensland. 

Ita's locations at 0600 UTC are shown overlaid in white. 

Credit: SSAI/NASA/JAXA, Hal Pierce

After coming ashore on April 11, Tropical Cyclone Ita dropped heavy rainfall over the weekend that caused flooding in many areas of northeastern Australia's state of Queensland.

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM) satellite gathered data on rainfall that was used to create a rainfall map at NASA.

TRMM satellite

TRMM satellite is managed by both NASA and JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Hal Pierce created a TRMM-based near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA).

The TMPA precipitation data covered the period from April 1 to 14, 2014 which starts when Ita formed in the Coral Sea and moved along northeastern Australia's coast.

This TRMM satellite rainfall map estimated that some of the largest isolated rainfall totals were near 400 mm/15.7 inches west of both Ingham and Townsville, Queensland.

A 3-D image of Ita was made at NASA using data collected by the TRMM satellite on April 14, 2014 at 0416 UTC/12:16 a.m. EDT after the tropical storm moved back into the Coral Sea.

TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) instrument found that the weakening tropical cyclone was still dropping rainfall at a maximum rate of over 161 mm/6.3 inches per hour over the Coral Sea.

The 3-D image, created using TRMM PR data, showed that some storms within Ita were still reaching heights of over 13 km/8 miles as it was becoming extra-tropical.

NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite

Another NASA-shared satellite captured a visible look at Ita's remnants on April 15. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured a look at the dying extra-tropical storm.

VIIRS collects visible and infrared imagery and global observations of land, atmosphere, cryosphere and oceans.

This 3-D image shows the structure of Tropical Cyclone Ita on April 14 at 0416 UTC/12:16 a.m. EDT. 

Some storms within Ita were still reaching heights of over 13 km/8 miles. 

Credit: SSAI/NASA/JAXA, Hal Pierce

When Suomi flew over Extra-Tropical Storm Ita on April 15 at 3:53 UTC/April 14 at 11:53 p.m. EDT, VIIRS visible data revealed that Ita's structure had elongated more than the previous day.

The VIIRS image showed that strong northwesterly wind shear continued to hammer the storm because the bulk of the storm's clouds were pushed southeast of the center.

Tropical Cyclone Ita's remnants have taken on more of a frontal appearance today as they continue to weaken at sea.

This visible image of an elongated Tropical Cyclone Ita was taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite on April 15 at 3:53 UTC and shows that wind shear has blown most clouds and thunderstorms south of the center. 

Credit: NRL/NASA/NOAA

TRMM satellite images show California storm moving eastward

This series of images from Feb. 28 to Mar. 3 shows the movement of the rain associated with the storm system that soaked California. 

On Mar. 3, precipitation (yellow) and snow cover (white/yellow) spread over large areas of the eastern United States. 

Credit: SSAI/NASA, Hal Pierce

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite provided a look at the rainfall associated with the large storm system that brought soaking rains to California on Feb. 28 and Mar. 1.

Satellite imagery created at NASA shows the movement of the storm from the U.S. West Coast to the East Coast.

At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. images were created using data from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) instrument that showed the movement of recent stormy weather from California's Pacific Ocean coast to the Atlantic Coast.

TRMM is a satellite managed by both NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency known as JAXA. Both agencies recently launched the GPM observatory, the follow-up to TRMM.

TRMM Images are routinely produced using TMI data which show the global area covered by the satellite.

"Those 'quick look' images use microwave brightness temperatures at 85.5 GHZ and at 37.0 GHZ combined in the red, green and blue components of the images," said Hal Pierce of the NASA TRMM team at Goddard who produced the images.

"The false color images can be used to distinguish land from water and show the differences between land surfaces such as deserts, snow cover and sea ice."

"On these images areas of dry atmosphere over water appear as blue and moist atmosphere is dark blue. Snow cover over land appears as white or grey, deserts are green. Scattering (by cloud ice) is shown as yellow."

The images Pierce created show TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) instrument views of the movement of the recent stormy weather from California's Pacific Ocean coast to the Atlantic Coast.

The first TRMM TMI image from February 28 showed a large low pressure center in the Pacific Ocean moving toward California.

Rain associated with this storm dropped over four inches of rain in Los Angeles that resulted in evacuation orders.


This animation from Feb. 28 to Mar. 3 shows the movement of the rain associated with the storm system that soaked California. 

On Mar. 3, precipitation (yellow) and snow cover (white/yellow) spread over large areas of the eastern United States. 

Credit: SSAI/NASA, Hal Pierce

The next day, March 1, the center of the storm was just off the California coast and precipitation had also moved into Arizona.

By Sunday, March 2, precipitation in the form of rain, freezing rain and snow extended from New Mexico through the Ohio valley.

On Monday, March 3, TRMM's TMI instrument showed precipitation (yellow) and snow cover (white/yellow) over large areas of the eastern United States.

NASA JAXA GPM: Earth-based measurements needed to calibrate newest weather satellite

After Atlanta was paralyzed by a rare snowstorm, many fingers were pointed assigning blame for the resulting traffic catastrophe, including at least one aimed at imprecise weather predictions.

"The governor of Georgia said that they thought the heavier snowfall was going to be south of the city," said Ana Barros, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke University.

"But there's a lot of uncertainty in those predictions because we don't really understand the fine details of complex storm systems. We don't know how to model these processes at high spatial resolutions."

Ana Barros

This summer, Barros and her colleagues will conduct the first field mission with a new satellite system intended to fill in those knowledge gaps.

On Feb. 27, NASA and Japan's national space agency (JAXA) launched the core satellite for their new Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center.

GPM is an international satellite mission designed to provide more detailed measurements of rain and snow over a wider range of the globe than previously possible.

Not only will the satellite have more precise instrumentation than its predecessors; its orbit will allow researchers to study rainfall at higher latitudes at higher spatial and temporal resolutions.

The data it collects will help unify measurements made by partner satellites and add to science's understanding of how weather works.

Before meteorologists can start plugging the new data in to their weather models, however, researchers have to make sure they can accurately interpret the GPM measurements.

The upcoming field mission, based in the mountains of western North Carolina and led by Duke engineers, will help achieve this by comparing satellite readings with those taken simultaneously from multiple aircraft and ground sensors.

Besides calibrating the new satellite, the campaign will help improve how precipitation processes are represented in forecast calculations.

It will also provide data and inform models used to address critical water management issues in mountainous regions.

"The campaign that we are running will obtain very high-resolution data of precipitation and the microphysics of storm systems in mountainous regions," said Barros.

"The end goal is to improve weather predictions and climate models."

NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP VIIRS satellite sensor: More precise hurricane forecasts

Tropical Storm Flossie imagery in July 2013 from Suomi NPP’s VIIRS Day-Night band revealing that the storm shifted more to the north, sparing the big island of Hawaii from a direct hit, but bringing the islands of Oahu, Molokai and Maui into a tropical storm warning area. 

Credit: NOAA

The ability to use satellites to locate a storm that could evolve into a severe storm or hurricane will likely become more accurate for this year's Atlantic hurricane season beginning June 1.

By then, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA), weather forecasters will be able to further improve the use of sensors aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite (Suomi NPP).

U.S. Polar Environmental satellites such as Suomi NPP provide complete global coverage twice daily, while NOAA/NASA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites offer imagery over a fixed area.

To improve the ability to better find and track hurricanes, NOAA scientists are finding ways to incorporate data from Suomi NPP's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, VIIRS sensor, that allows observations of Earth's atmosphere and surface during nighttime hours and offers enhanced capability to see through clouds.

VIIRS provides many advances over previous operational imagers and advances compared to its research predecessor, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) currently operating on NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites.

It is these advances in polar imagery that will give forecasters a new tool to improve their predictions.

Similarly, the radar on board the NASA/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite has the capability to see through and distinguish between precipitating cumulus and the cirrus clouds which TRMM's infrared sensor also detects.

The next-generation of these sensors is set to launch from Japan next month aboard the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite.

The information to track storms comes from satellites surface stations, weather balloons, radar and aircraft.

Most current satellites provide important information during day and night, although observations in the visible part of the spectrum are limited at night.

That is where VIIRS has an advantage. The VIIRS day-night band is sensitive enough to provide storm information even under limited moonlight conditions, a major advancement for storm analysis.

The Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) sensor aboard Suomi NPP also provides temperature and water vapour measurements with greater accuracy than similar microwave instruments onboard earlier satellites.

In relatively clear areas away from the storm center and in the eye of intense storms, the Cross-track Infrared Sensor (CrIS), also on Suomi NPP, enhances ATMS temperature and moisture information by providing measurements with even greater vertical and horizontal resolution.

Installation of the CrIS instrument. Credit: Ball Aerospace

TRMM satellite: System 91W's deadly Philippine flooding calculations

NASA/JAXA's TRMM satellite data was used to calculate the extremely high rainfall totals of over 1,168 mm (about 46 inches) that fell from Jan. 10-17, 2014, near northeastern Mindanao, Philippines. 

Credit: SSAI/NASA, Hal Pierce

People in the southern Philippines are used to heavy rainfall this time of the year but rainfall totals have recently been exceptionally high.

A tropical low known as System 91W, located northeast of Mindanao has been an almost permanent feature on weather maps for the past week.

NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's TRMM satellite has provided data on rainfall and flooding that was used to create a map of the event.

System 91W has caused nearly continuous rain in the area of northeastern Mindanao triggering floods and landslides that have caused the reported deaths of 34 people.

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite data was used in a TRMM Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), produced at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md.

The TMPA combines the rainfall estimates generated by TRMM and other satellites. The analysis was done for the period from January 10-17, 2014.

Extremely high rainfall totals of over 1,168 mm (about 46 inches) for that week were found near northeastern Mindanao. This past Monday, January 13, a landslide on Dinagat Island caused the deaths of six people in this area.

Heavy rain amounts (calculated from satellite data), flood inundation calculations (from a hydrological computer models) and landslide potential maps are updated as often as every three hours globally.

Results are shown at the "Global Flood and Landslide Monitoring" TRMM web site pages: trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov.

System 91W, known locally as "Agaton," continues to drop heavy rainfall on parts of the Philippines, and warnings remained in effect on January 17-18.

Philippines warnings in effect include Public Storm Warning Signal #1 for southern Leyte, Surigao del Norte and Sur, Siargao Island, Dinagat Province, Agusan del Norte and Sur, Davao Oriental and Compostella Valley.

On January 17 at 1500 UTC/10 a.m. EST, System 91W was centered near 9.7 north latitude and 127.6 east longitude, about 370 nautical miles/425.8 miles/685.2 km east-northeast of Zamboanga, Philippines.

Satellite data indicated that convection continued to flare up along the northern quadrant of the storm. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center gives System 91W a high chance for becoming a tropical depression in the next 24 hours.

Residents of the Philippines should be on guard for more heavy rainfall, flash floods, and mudslides as System 91W lingers.

NASA TRMM: Tropical Storm Chantal's heavy rainfall and towering thunderstorms

NASA's TRMM satellite showed that the most intense rain falling in Tropical Storm Chantal on July 8 was falling at a rate of over 115.5 mm/hr. (~4.5 inches) near Chantal's center of circulation. 

Credit: NASA/SSAI, Hal Pierce

Two NASA satellites captured a look at Tropical Storm Chantal, from the inside and outside and revealed powerful, high thunderstorms dropping heavy rainfall.

Later in the day at 1700 UTC (1 p.m. EDT) on July 8, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Chantal. The image showed the Chantal continued to organize as it moves through the Caribbean Sea.

Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 90 miles (150 km) mainly to the north of the center, but the extent of the cloud cover appears larger in visible imagery.

As of 8 a.m. EDT on July 9, a tropical storm warning was in effect for: Barbados, Dominica, St Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to the border with Haiti.

In addition, a tropical storm watch was in effect for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Vincent, Vieques and Culebra, Haiti, the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos and the southeastern Bahamas.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted that a storm surge of 1 to 3 feet above normal tidal levels can be expected in the Windward and Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico. Along the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, the surge is expected to be higher, reaching 2 to 4 feet.

The heavy rainfall that NASA's TRMM satellite observed can be expected over the Leeward and Windward Islands, with totals between 2 to 4 inches, and isolated totals to 6 inches.

The MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this visible image of Tropical Storm Chantal on July 8 at 1700 UTC (1 p.m. EDT). 

Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team

NHC expects tropical storm conditions are expected to affect portions of Windward Islands today, July 9, and Puerto Rico tonight or early Wednesday.

At 8 a.m. EDT Chantal's maximum sustained winds were near 50 mph (85 kph). NHC expects some strengthening.

Chantal was centered near 13.8 north latitude and 59.7 west longitude, just 45 miles (70 km) north-northwest of Barbados, and 85 miles east of St. Lucia.

Chantal was moving to the west-northwest at a speedy 26 mph (43 kph), and is expected to continue in that general direction for the next couple of days. Minimum central pressure is near 1010 millibars.

Chantal's center is expected to move into the eastern Caribbean Sea during the afternoon and evening of July 9 and near the Dominican Republic by July 10. Current forecast tracks from the NHC bring Chantal along the eastern coast of Florida by the weekend of July 13 and 14.