NASA satellites show extent of power outages after the "derecho"
By David Wogan
This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
NASA's Earth Observatory has posted before and after satellite images of the mid-Atlantic region showing the extent of the power outages after the June 29th storm. The land hurricane - technically called a "derecho", or "long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms" - left over 4 million people without power for several days. The images are from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite, which takes measurements using visible and infrared spectra.
June 28 (before the storm):
June 30 (after):
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Larger files along with a nifty comparison slider tool are available over at NASA's Earth Observatory site.
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