Hurricane Irene makes landfall

This before-after image pair shows changes associated with Hurricane Irene. Its path is shown by the bold blue line. In the pre-Irene image (left) shades of green and yellow show the effects of drought on vegetation and dark red spots are recent wildfires. Irene brought damaging winds that defoliated trees, but also much needed rain which increased greenness. By the end of September (right) the effects of the storm appear to have reduced vegetational vigor in the hardest hit areas of extreme eastern North Carolina while helping interior forests recover as shown by the increase in blue across central Virginia.