Unsettled weather across central Australia

In late July 2013, a low pressure system off Australia’s southeast coast and moist onshore winds combined to create unsettled weather across central Australia – and a striking image of a broad cloud band across the stark winter landscape.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image on July 22 at 01:05 UTC (10:35 a.m. Australian Central Standard Time). To the west of the low pressure trough the skies are clear and dry. To the east, the broad band of bright white clouds obscures the landscape. The system brought wind, precipitation and cooler temperatures to the region.

The same day as MODIS captured this image, the Naval Research Lab (NRL) published an edition of the Global Storm Tracker (GST), which gave a world-wide view of the low-pressure systems across the world. This tracker shows the entire cloud band across Australia, as well as the location of the low pressure system.

A good view of the Storm Tracker is provided by Red Orbit at: www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2013/07/072213-weather-003...

Credit: NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team

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