On Sept. 28, Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa in southwestern Florida as a dangerous Category 4 storm after plowing a path of destruction through the Caribbean, bringing particularly heavy rainfall and dangerous surf to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and western Cuba. Ian thrashed parts of Florida’s western coast, bringing intense winds, heavy rainfall, and catastrophic storm surge. After crossing over the Florida peninsula, where it had weakened to a tropical storm, Ian strengthened again over the Atlantic to a Category 1 hurricane and made a second landfall near Georgetown, South Carolina on Sept. 30. NOAA satellite imagery helped forecasters pinpoint the center of circulation in real-time, monitor the storm’s intensity and movement, track thunderstorm activity both in the eyewall and in the tornado-producing outer rain bands, and determine when landfall would occur.