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Projected to weaken over the coming day, Cyclone Guillaume was still going strong in the Indian Ocean in this MODIS image made from data acquired at 10:20 am local time on Tuesday, February 19, 2002. Shown here to the northeast of the French island of R‚union in the southwestern Indian Ocean off the coast of Madagascar, the outer bands of the storm clouds are obscuring the island of Mauritius northeast of R‚union.
The storm has been tracking slowly south-southeast, and should weaken as it moves farther south. As of Wednesday morning, February 20, maximum sustained winds were around 140 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 167 miles per hour. Waves were as high 24 feet. January and February are the peak cyclone months in the region, and Mauritius experiences on average about ten each season.
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Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
