Take a look at the latest visible image of Hurricane Bertha. A well developed eye is visible on the pic below. Its amazing what we can tell about storms today from space, more than 22,000 miles up!

(Image courtesy: Weather Underground)

Looking at some of the latest microwave data from space shows Bertha a good batch of very heavy storms and rain to the north of the center. A nearly closed eyewall is also visible on the picture below. We use these microwave images to basically give us an X-Ray of the storm, much like you see at the hospital. We can derive from the data the current winds and direction, where the heaviest rain is and see the eyewall in action, a great indicator of the storms strength and overall health.

(Image courtesy: Univ. of Wisconsin / CIMSS)

The latest tasking from the National Hurricane Center has the Hurricane Hunters on the way to visit Bertha on Tuesday:

NOUS42 KNHC 061715 AMD
WEATHER RECONNAISSANCE FLIGHTS
CARCAH, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER, MIAMI, FL.
1000 AM EDT SUN 06 JULY 2008
SUBJECT: TROPICAL CYCLONE PLAN OF THE DAY (TCPOD)
         VALID 07/1100Z TO 08/1100Z JULY 2008
         TCPOD NUMBER.....08-036

I.  ATLANTIC REQUIREMENTS
    1. NEGATIVE RECONNAISSANCE REQUIREMENTS.
    2. SUCCEEDING DAY OUTLOOK. (AMENDED)
       A. POSSIBLE AIR FORCE FLIGHT ON TS BERTHA,
          8/18Z, 20N 57W.
    3.  BEGIN 12 HRLY FIXES 9/12Z IF NECESSARY.

 Chad Watson
Live 5 Meteorologist

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