Links to 1500x957-pixel, 606KB JPG . As it aims for the Bahama Islands and the United States, Hurricane Bonnie displays the pinwheel pattern that is classic of cyclobic storm systems. Links to 1350x975-pixel, 560KB JPG . The most intense precipitation, yellow and white at left, is the eyewall. Also, to the left of center is a gap, or area of weak signal, can be seen between the eyewall and the rain to the right.
Hurricanes typically have rain organized into spiral bands with gaps between bands.
Links to 730x669-pixel, 198KB JPG . These depict cloud cover and cold cloud tops in visible and infrared light, and rainfall and ice distribution as seen in microwave bands. A broken cloud field was visually observed in Bonnie's eye. LASE measurements showed this eye to be quite large and revealed the precise altitudes of clouds within the eye. LASE also measured the vertical distribution of water vapor inside the eye of Bonnie during brief cloud free periods.