Massive storm system 90M seen spinning over the Mediterranean Sea

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite took this photo of a cyclonic storm system in the Mediterranean Sea dubbed 90M.

The storm’s shape looks like something normally seen spinning over the Pacific or Atlantic oceans. This one, however, developed over the Mediterranean Sea.

At 10:30 a.m. Central European Time (09:30 Universal Time) on October 30, 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image of a storm system dubbed 90M.

Soon after this image was acquired, NOAA reported that the system appeared to be a T-number 1.0 storm on the Dvorak Current Intensity Chart. It was generating sustained winds of 47 kilometers (29 miles) per hour, equivalent to a tropical depression on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. (For comparison, Category-1 storms on the Saffir-Simpson scale have sustained winds between 119–153 kilometers per hour.) The storm was strong enough to generate large waves that affected some areas of land. News reports noted that that crews removed 177 tons of debris that washed up on the east coast of Malta.

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Credit: NASA