ORLANDO, Fla. – The last time Erin was a hurricane, it was captured in arguably the most tragic satellite images ever taken.
The satellite image was captured on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
If you look closely, you can see the smoke from the World Trade Center drifting south as the massive Hurricane Erin passed by safely out-to-sea.
The sinking air from the outer edge of the hurricane along with building high pressure behind a cold front that swept Erin out to sea created the vibrant blue skies in New York City that morning.
The World Meteorological Organization uses a 6-year rotation for named storms. Unless, of course, a storm is retired.
Since 2001, we have used the named Erin three times. Each time, however, it was a tropical storm.