HOUSTON – During the peak of the deadly windstorm a.k.a derecho, the skies across Houston became noticeably and eerily dark.
EXPLAINER: What is a derecho? The deadly storm that stunned the Houston area
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But just how dark? An interactive infrared map, featured by NASA Earth Observatory gives us a pretty intense view. By dragging the small arrow in the middle of the map downward, you can see where the lights went out.
According to Earth Observatory’s website, the maps are “based on data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor on the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite. VIIRS measures nighttime light emissions and reflections via its day-night band. This sensing capability makes it possible to distinguish the intensity of lights and to observe how they change.”
During that period of darkness and heavy winds, a derecho, otherwise known as a strong and long-lasting band of thunderstorms lashed across Houston. About 4,000 windows were shattered, trees toppled onto cars and homes, killing at least eight of our neighbors and nearly 1 million homes and businesses lost power. Some folks even went a whole week without electricity.
It’s interesting to observe the map’s vast differences now, from a scientific perspective, which utilizes a Black Marble HD product provided by Ranjay Shrestha of NASA’s eponymous science team. The data was then processed to account for landscape changes, as well as, atmospheric and the Moon’s phase, and filter out stray light from non-electric light sources.
“The ability of satellite-derived nighttime lights products, such as the Black Marble, to capture widespread outages in a distributed energy system is crucial for immediate response, resource allocation, and damage assessment,” Shrestha explained.
Learn more about the maps by clicking here.