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Tropical cyclone Elita (9S) formed just off the west coast of theisland of Madagascar in the Mozambique Channel on 26 January 2004 as aminimal tropical storm with winds estimated at around 40 mph by theJoint Typhoon Warning Center. Elita then slowly meandered towards thenortheast along the coastline of Madagascar before turning southeastand coming ashore on the 29th near the coastal town of Mahajanga on thenorthwestern coast of Madagascar. One person was reported killed bythe storm and numerous houses and buildings were destroyed in the town.
The first image was captured by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission(TRMM) satellite and shows Elita just off the northwest coast ofMadagascar. The image was taken at 3:42 UTC on 28 January 2004. At thetime of the image, Elita's strength was still only estimated to be near40 mph though the next advisory later on the 28th put the maximumestimated sustained winds to be near 70 mph. The image shows thehorizontal distribution of rain rates as seen from above by the TRMMsatellite. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM PrecipitationRadar (PR), the first precipitation radar in space, while rain rates inthe outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain ratesare overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner(VIRS). TRMM shows that Elita is not well organized having an open eyestructure with the heaviest rain rates of 2 inches per hour (dark redareas) occurring in a rainband away from the center. Still there areample areas of moderate rainfall associated with Elita (green areas) withembedded areas of heavier rain (smaller orange areas) to generatesubstantial amounts of rainfall especially when combined with the slowforward speed of the storm.
The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis(MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center monitors rainfall over theglobal tropics. The second image shows MPA rainfall totals for theperiod 23-29 January, 2004. It reveals that coastal areas ofnorthwestern Madagascar may have received upwards of 2 feet of rain (darkred areas) as a result of Elita. These copious rain totals extend allthe way across the Mozambique Channel to the eastern coastline ofMozambique.
References & Resources
Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
