On September 5, 2011, Katia was a Category 2 hurricane according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC). At 11:00 a.m. Atlantic Standard Time (AST) on September 5, the NHC reported that Katia had maximum sustained winds of 110 miles (175 kilometers) per hour with higher gusts.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image at 11:30 a.m. AST on September 5. Filling the right half of the image, Katia hovers over the ocean northeast of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
By 5:00 a.m. AST on September 6, Katia had strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles (205 kilometers) per hour, the NHC reported. Five-day projections of the storm track, however, showed Katia likely stopping short of the U.S. East Coast and turning toward the northeast. The most significant hazards affecting land were large ocean swells. The NHC warned that the swells could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.
NASA image courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.
