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February 14, 2021 - Tropical Cyclone Faraji
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Tropical Cyclone Faraji became the first Category 5 storm of 2021 on February 8.
According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)’s at 1:00 p.m. EST (1800 UTC) on that day, Faraji was packing one-minute maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (257 km/h). Low wind shear and warm ocean temperatures of about 82-84˚F (28-29˚C) fed the rapid intensification that had begun on February 6.
Fortunately, Tropical Cyclone Faraji was spinning over the open waters of the southwest Indian Ocean at that time and posed no threat to land.
Not long after attaining peak wind speed on February 8, the storm encountered less favorable conditions and began to weaken. When the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of Tropical Cyclone Faraji on February 12, maximum sustained winds had dropped to about 81 mph (130 km/h) which is the equivalent of a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. At that time, the storm ha a cloud-filled eye and had lost the typical apostrophe-shape typical of a strong cyclone.
As of 4:00 p.m. EST (2100 UTC) on February 12, Tropical Cyclone Faraji’s maximum sustained winds had dropped to about 40 mph (64 km/h) with gusts as high as 52 mph (83 km/h). The storm was located over open water about 1,428 miles (2,298 km) east of Port Louis, Mauritius and was tracking westward. Faraji is expected to weaken slowly, with gale-force winds remaining in the southern section of the storm as it encounters increasingly unfavorable conditions. The JTWC expects Tropical Cyclone Faraji to dissipate by the afternoon of February 15.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 2/12/2021
Resolutions:
1km (535.8 KB), 500m (1.7 MB), 250m (4.8 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Tropical Cyclone Faraji became the first Category 5 storm of 2021 on February 8.
According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)’s at 1:00 p.m. EST (1800 UTC) on that day, Faraji was packing one-minute maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (257 km/h). Low wind shear and warm ocean temperatures of about 82-84˚F (28-29˚C) fed the rapid intensification that had begun on February 6. Fortunately, Tropical Cyclone Faraji was spinning over the open waters of the southwest Indian Ocean at that time and posed no threat to land.Not long after attaining peak wind speed on February 8, the storm encountered less favorable conditions and began to weaken. When the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of Tropical Cyclone Faraji on February 12, maximum sustained winds had dropped to about 81 mph (130 km/h) which is the equivalent of a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. At that time, the storm ha a cloud-filled eye and had lost the typical apostrophe-shape typical of a strong cyclone.
As of 4:00 p.m. EST (2100 UTC) on February 12, Tropical Cyclone Faraji’s maximum sustained winds had dropped to about 40 mph (64 km/h) with gusts as high as 52 mph (83 km/h). The storm was located over open water about 1,428 miles (2,298 km) east of Port Louis, Mauritius and was tracking westward. Faraji is expected to weaken slowly, with gale-force winds remaining in the southern section of the storm as it encounters increasingly unfavorable conditions. The JTWC expects Tropical Cyclone Faraji to dissipate by the afternoon of February 15.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 2/12/2021
Resolutions:
1km (535.8 KB), 500m (1.7 MB), 250m (4.8 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
