GPM sees weakening Tropical Storm Ignacio headed toward Canada

Hurricane Ignacio continues weakening as it moves over the colder waters of the Pacific Ocean far to the north of Hawaiian Islands. The Global Precipitation Measurement of GPM mission core satellite flew over Ignacio and analyzed the weaker storm's precipitation.

Ignacio peaked as a category four hurricane with winds of 125 knots (144 mph) less than a week ago when it was southeast of Hawaii. Ignacio had weakened to strong tropical storm intensity with winds of about 60 knots (69 mph) when the GPM core observatory satellite flew over on September 3, 2015 at 2116 UTC.

GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) found with this pass that the maximum rainfall rate was only about 74.0 mm (2.9 inches) per hour. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA.

On September 4, 2015 at 11 a.m. EDT (5 a.m. HST/1500 UTC) the center of Hurricane Ignacio was located near latitude 32.4 north and longitude 164.2 west. That puts the center about 860 miles (1,380 km) north-northwest of Honolulu, Hawaii and about 600 miles (965 km) north-northeast of French Frigate Shoals. The estimated minimum central pressure is 980 millibars. Maximum sustained winds are near 75 mph (120 kph) and weakening.

Ignacio was moving toward the north-northwest near 13 mph (20 kph) and is expected to turn north on September 5, then northeast the following day. For updated forecasts visit NOAA's Central Pacific Hurricane Center at: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc.

Ignacio could buffet western Canada's coast near Queen Charlotte Islands as a sub-tropical storm during the week of September 7.