The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this photo-like image of the storm at 12:40 p.m. local time (4:40 UTC) on August 19, 2008. This image shows Typhoon Nuri off the coast of Luzon at the northern end of the Philippines; it appears as a tightly wound ball of clouds with hints of heavy thunderstorms near the storm’s center. (More energetic thunderstorms tend to sprout tall cloud towers above them, casting shadows on the clouds below. The eye of the storm is not distinct in this MODIS image, though a cloud-filled eye is apparent. Around the time MODIS acquired this image, Nuri showed measured wind speeds of 165 kilometers (105 miles) per hour, consistent with a Category 2 Typhoon, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.