September 17, 2003JPEG

Hurricane Isabel creeps closer to the US east coast in this true-color MODIS image taken by the Terra satellite on September 17, 2003 at 11:09 am, US Eastern time. Though downgraded to a powerful Category 2 hurricane, Isabel was packing sustained winds of 110 miles per hour. The storm is about 400 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, in this image.

Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC.