![]() ![]() Officially, Matthew was responsible for over 600 deaths (585 direct, 18 indirect), and $15.1 billion in estimated damages ( Stewart 2017). The deluge inundated major urban corridors, causing widespread power outages across the coastal regions. Here, Matthew’s impacts were most severe across coastal Georgia and the Carolinas, where coastal storm surge combined with inland flooding from torrential rainfall with accumulations in some areas exceeding 15 in. In the United States, Matthew claimed an additional 52 lives (34 direct and 18 indirect Stewart 2017) and caused ∼$10 billion in damages. A house collapse claimed four more lives in the Dominican Republic. Damage to Cuba, including a bridge collapse that killed four people, was estimated at \$2.6 billion. ![]() The storm’s impacts on Haiti were particularly severe, where public reports estimated at least 546 lives were lost (an official total unofficial estimates place the toll closer to 1,000) ∼240,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged and estimated damages approached \$1.9 billion. Matthew wreaked havoc across the central Caribbean and the southeastern United States between 28 September and 9 October 2016, leaving widespread destruction in its wake. Hurricane Matthew was by all measures the most powerful and devastating tropical cyclone (TC) of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season ( Stewart 2017). The VIIRS Day/Night Band on Suomi NPP reveals key nocturnal aspects of the storm during its deadly traverse through the Caribbean and the U.S. Collected without moonlight, these examples showcase the wealth of unique information present in DNB nocturnal low-light observations without moonlight, and their potential to complement traditional satellite measurements of tropical storms worldwide. Here, we chronicle Matthew’s path of destruction and peer through the DNB’s looking glass of low-light visible observations, including lightning connected to sprite formation, modulation of the atmospheric nightglow by storm-generated gravity waves, and widespread power outages. Unlike conventional instruments, the DNB’s sensitivity to extremely low levels of visible and near-infrared light offers new insight into storm properties and impacts. In this regard, a relative newcomer among the suite of satellite observations useful for tropical cyclone monitoring and research is the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) day/night band (DNB), a sensor flying on board the NOAA–NASA S uomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership ( SNPP) satellite. Satellite remote sensing typically plays an important role in the forecasting and study of hurricanes, providing a top-down perspective on storms developing over the remote and inherently data-sparse tropical oceans. Research surrounding Matthew and its many noteworthy meteorological characteristics (e.g., rapid intensification into the southernmost category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic basin on record, strong lightning and sprite production, and unusual cloud morphology) is ongoing. dollars) in damages across the central Caribbean and southeastern U.S. Hurricane Matthew (28 September–9 October 2016) was perhaps the most infamous storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season, claiming over 600 lives and causing over $15 billion (U.S. ![]()
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