TC ULUI and TOMAS – UPDATE Mar 13

Don’t Name Your Kids after Cyclones!

What if in your life time climate change spawned ‘never-ending’ cyclones … storms that waxed and waned as they crisscrossed the planet, but never dissipated … cyclones that  spawned other cyclones on the warm ocean waters, each time they passed near the point of their inception, a place near you …

It’s not theoretically inconceivable … you may yet drive the planet to the edge …

Where is Tomas Holidaying?

On its projected path, Tomas could cause unimaginable damage to the Main Fiji Islands. IF the cyclone were to dump its full load of precipitation on Fiji, it would submerge the two main isles under 6 feet of water.

(L to R) TC ULUI (TC 20P) and TC TOMAS  (TC 19P). Source: MTSAT Easter Sector  (NOAA). Click Images to enlarge.

• Animate above image

Other Images and Animations

• Visible
• Visible Loop
• IR
• IR Loop

Cyclone TOMAS Current Projected Path Takes it Right through Fiji Islands. Source: JTWC

AIRS image on March 11 at 20:10 UTC  (3:10 p.m. ET) showed a developing storm with a large cluster of high,  cold (purple), strong thunderstorms around Tomas’ center. Source: NASA/JPL

Tropical Cyclone Tomas (TC 19P) – Summary of Details on March 13 at 00:01UTC

• Position:  11.7S 178.1W
• Max Sustained Winds:  ~ 120km/hr (65 kts)
• Wind Gusts: ~ 150km/hr ( 80 kts)
• Movement: 230 degrees
• Forward Speed:  ~ 10km/hr (06 kts)
• Location: 890km  (440 NM) NORTHEAST of NADI, FIJI
• Comment: High ocean heat content and strong outflow will help Tomas to intensify steadily. Tomas could reach Category 4A, possibly as high as Cat 4c,  strength on the  FEWW New Hurricane Scale.
  Tomas has “tightly-wrapped convective banding around a well-defined low-level circulation center. Upper level analysis indicates TC 19P is just to the south of an anticyclone that is enhancing excellent equatorward outflow,” JTWC said.
• Sources: JTWC, Digital Typhoon, CIMSS and others.

–

Cyclone ULUI: The Loitering Devil on the Deep Blue Sea

TC ULUI. Source MTSAT (NOAA). Click Images to enlarge.

• Image
• Loop

Forecast Details on March 13 at 06:00UTC

• Position: 13.9S 163.3E
• Max Sustaind Winds: ~ 110 km/hr (~ 60 kts)
• Wind Gusts: 140km/hr (~ 75 kts)
• Movement: 290 degrees
• Forward Speed:  ~5km/hr (~ 3 kts)
• Location: About 195km (105 NM) WNW of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
• Sources: JTWC, Digital Typhoon and others.

Infrared Image of Ului’s Cold T-storms

An AIRS image on March 12 at 9:17 a.m. ET showed a well-developed storm with a large cluster of high, cold (purple), strong thunderstorms around the center of Tropical Storm Ului. Source: NASA

Related Links:

• Tropical Cyclones Now Come in Pairs
• FEWW New Hurricane Scale

Disaster Update March 13

Cyclone Hubert: 14 dead, 500 homes destroyed, 32,000 affected, thousands homeless

The seemingly innocuous tropical cyclone drenched Madagascar’s eastern coastline killing 14 people, destroying 500 homes and leaving 32,000 people affected, the government said on Friday.

The National Office for Risk and Catastrophe Management (BNGRC) said Hubert had also flooded thousands of other properties.

Hubert’s visible image captured by NASA’s AIRS instrument as the storm was making a landfall, showing half of the storm is over land, and half is still over the Southern Indian Ocean on March 11, 2010. Source: NASA/JPL

Home to more than 5 percent of the world’s animal and plant species, Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island. Madagascar is rich in oil, uranium, nickel and cobalt deposits. The country has a population of 21 million with a per capita GDP of $486 ($1.28 dollars per day). About 80 percent of the population live on less than a dollar per day.

The island is located in the southwestern Indian Ocean on a cyclone path and experiences storm landfalls almost every year.

Chile Quake Aftershocks

Rancagua, Chile. Two powerful aftershocks measuring 7.2M and 7.3M struck central Chile causing significant damage in the city of Rancagua according to various reports. As of posting there were no report of fatalities, however there were reports of extensive damage to roads throughout the region where the shocks occurred.

The aftershocks prompted the closure of several ports.

“All packinghouses stopped working yesterday as employees returned home. Also, because of the tsunami alert, ports were closed for around 24 hours.” Juan Pablo Vicuna, president of Santiago-based Dole Chile S.A. reportedly told the media on March 12.

“The originally expected shipments for this week [week of March 8] will be down around 45%,” Vicuna said.

“The Port of Valparaiso, through which most Chilean fruit exports pass, reopened March 12 and was running at about 60% capacity,” an industry spokesperson said, according to a report.

There were several reports of extensive road damage, power outages and employee fears reducing capacity at several other ports by 40 to 60 percent.

Related Links:

• Tropical Cyclone 18S Approaches Madagascar
• Chile Struck by 7.3 and 7.2M Aftershocks
• Chile Earthquake Links Page