Live Satellite Imagery

GeoColor provides the most natural-looking view of hurricanes. During the day, it combines visible light channels to show clouds in true color against a blue ocean. At night, it switches to infrared with city lights overlay, making it useful for 24-hour monitoring.

Infrared (IR) imagery is the workhorse of hurricane forecasting. It measures cloud-top temperatures — the colder (higher) the cloud tops, the more intense the convection. A hurricane's eye appears as a warm spot surrounded by extremely cold cloud tops, and the symmetry of this pattern indicates storm intensity.

Water Vapor imagery reveals moisture in the mid-to-upper atmosphere. Forecasters use it to identify the subtropical ridge, troughs, and dry air intrusions that steer hurricanes and can weaken or strengthen them.

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) are operated by NOAA and NASA. They orbit at 22,236 miles above the equator, matching Earth's rotation so they continuously monitor the same region.

GOES-East (GOES-19), positioned at 75.2°W, monitors the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and eastern Pacific — the primary hurricane formation regions for storms that threaten the United States.

GOES-West (GOES-18), positioned at 137.2°W, covers the eastern Pacific, Hawaii, and western Americas. Together, the two satellites provide complete coverage of the Western Hemisphere.

NOAA GOES Image Viewer