Separated by several hundred kilometers, Hurricanes Celia and Darby both occurred at roughly the same latitude over the eastern Pacific Ocean on June 25, 2010. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite observed Darby at 12:55 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (19:55 UTC), and Celia at 2:35 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (21:35 UTC) on June 25. Both storms have distinct eyes, although Darby is a much smaller storm. The gray stripe running diagonally through the middle of the image is the gap between Aqua’s passes over the globe.
According to bulletins issued by the U.S. National Hurricane Center at 2:00 p.m. on June 25, Celia was a Category 4 hurricane while relatively diminutive Darby was a Category 3 hurricane. Both storms were headed away from land, however, so no coastal watches or warnings were in effect.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott.
