Weather in your inbox

Forecast Location

Sign Up

By signing up you agree to the Terms & Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe at any time.

The new high-resolution GOES-16 satellite spotted its first hurricane of the new satellite era earlier this week. 

GOES-16 has been in testing mode since the beginning of the year and has seen a number of tropical storms both over the Atlantic and the East Pacific Oceans, but Dora was the first hurricane the new high-definition satellite has seen. 

(MORE: Hurricane Central)

More importantly, Hurricane Dora gave forecasters their first opportunity to view a rapidly intensifying system, Periods of rapid intensification are often the trickiest phase of a storm to forecast and the most dangerous time of a storm when these cycles occur near land.

Rapid intensification is defined as a cyclone that increases its maximum sustained winds by at least 35 mph in 24 hours or less. 

Hurricane Dora rapidly intensified from a 50 mph tropical storm to an 85 mph Category 1 hurricane Sunday, June 25 into Monday, June 26 over the open East Pacific waters between the Mexican mainland and Mexico's Socorro Island, a research island a few hundred miles west of mainland Mexico.

(MORE: What to Expect in July in the Tropics)

GOES-16 also allows scientists to monitor very small features in a hurricane's core like the vorticies seen in the eye of Dora. The wispy, shelf-like clouds moving in the northern portion of Dora's eye may have indicated dry air that was beginning to penetrate into the storm. These features may become key indicators for changes in tropical cyclone intensity and forward path. 

Rapid changes in intensity and smaller features that lead to changes in intensity are difficult to forecast because weather models have a hard time diagnosing those small-scale features in a hurricane's core that often lead to hurricane intensification.

(MORE: Top 10 Most Extreme Hurricane Seasons in the Satellite Era)

Models have improved in the last decade, but the addition of GOES-16 will help the models analyze small-scale bursts of thunderstorms like the exploding thunderstorms seen below in orange in the satellite loop presented by NASA's Short-Term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPORT). 

MORE FROM WEATHER.COM: Category 5 Hurricanes of the Atlantic Basin