Tropical Storm Arthur is expected to deliver heavy rain on the coast of the southern United States. NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite spotted indications of serious rainfall around the center of the storm on Thursday.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) expects Arthur to strengthen and become a hurricane. The Center has issued a hurricane watch from Bogue Inlet to Oregon Inlet in North Carolina, as well as the Pamlico Sound on July 2. A tropical storm watch is now in effect from Sebastian Inlet to Flagler Beach, South Santee River South Carolina to south of Bogue Inlet, North Carolina. North of Oregon Inlet, North Carolina to the North Carolina/Virginia Border, and the Eastern Albemarle Sound are also on watch for a potential tropical storm.
On July 1, less than two hours after being upgraded from a tropical depression at 12:20 p.m. EDT, The TRMM satellite's Microwave Imager and Precipitation Radar showed very heavy rainfall around Arthur's center, occurring at about 2 inches per hour at its heaviest stage. Thunderstorms were also measured to reach heights of 15.5 km and above.
At 8 a.m. EDT of July 2, the center of Tropical Storm Arthur was about 100 miles east-northeast of Cape Canaveral, Fla. and NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It is also 275 miles south of Charleston, S.C. Arthur is expected to move continuously north at a speed of 6 mph
Sustained winds remain near 60 mph at maximum. But, Arthur is likely to strengthen in the next two days as it is expected to become a hurricane by July 3, Thursday.
Arthur is expected to approach the hurricane watch areas on Thursday night as the NHC expects Arthur to move east of Florida's east-central coast and move to the coast of South Carolina on Thursday.
The TRMM was launched in 1997 from Japan as a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to monitor and study tropical rainfall. It carries five instruments: precipitation radar to create a 3-D map of the storm, a microwave imager to measure quantitative rainfall information, visible and infrared scanner to delineate rainfall, CERES to measure the energy at the top of the atmosphere, and lightning imaging sensor to detect lightning.
