This true-color image of Hurricane Hernan off of Baja California was captured on September 1, 2002, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flying aboard NASA’s Aqua spacecraft. Hernan peaked on Sunday, September 1 as a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 160 miles (260 kilometers). Hernan is the only hurricane to reach Category 5 status out of a total of six hurricanes to occur so far this season in the eastern Pacific.
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
