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On October 27, 2021, an early and strong nor’easter formed off the coast of New England. After lashing the North American coastline, the system skittled across the Atlantic. On October 30, the system earned the title of Subtropical Storm Wanda as the National Hurricane Center issued its first advisory. At that time, Wanda was located near 36.2N 45.4W or about 1020 mi (1640 km) west of the Azores and about 825 mi (1,330 km) south southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland and was carrying maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 km/h). Wanda became the twenty-first named storm of the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season and captured the last name of the initial roster of names. Any additional storms will be named from a supplemental list.
As of 2100 UTC (5:00 p.m. EDT) on November 5, Tropical Storm Wanda was carrying maximum sustained winds of about 52 mph (84 km/h) and was located at 39.1N 37.4W or about 565 mi (910 km) west of the Azores. At this time, Wanda was heading due south (180 degrees) at 9 mph (15 km/h) and remained over open ocean.
Wanda has been a wandering storm, first moving towards the northeast, then turning sharply south before heading nearly due north for a time before once again heading south. According to the NHC, Tropical Storm Wanda is expected to maintain the current strength for the next 48 hours and will continue to move south for the next 24 hours or so. After that time, Wanda is expected to turn and accelerate to the northeast. As the storm tracks to the northeast, it is expected to meet less favorable conditions and begin to weaken.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of Tropical Storm Wanda as it wandered over the Central Atlantic Ocean. To the storm’s west numerous straight lines appear in the clouds. These long narrow clouds are either ship tracks or contrails. This type of cloud is created when water vapor condenses around the tiny particles emitted by the exhaust of ships (ship tracks) or airplanes (contrails).
Image Facts
Satellite:
Date Acquired: 11/4/2021
Resolutions:
1km (1.8 MB), 500m (5.4 MB), 250m (4.2 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC