Tropical Cyclone Eloise spun across the Mozambique Channel in mid-January and is now poised to move inland over East African countries.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite acquired this image of the cyclone at 12:50 p.m. local time in Mozambique (1050 Universal Time) on January 22, 2021. Around this time, the storm had maximum sustained winds of about 65 knots (75 miles/120 kilometers per hour)—equivalent to a category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.
According to news reports, Eloise has the potential to strengthen even more, leading to flooding and damage across areas that were devastated by Tropical Cyclone Idai in March 2019.
References & Resources
- Joint Typhoon Warning Center (2021, January 22) Tropical Cyclone 12S (Eloise) Warning Nr 011. Accessed January 22, 2021.
- Reliefweb (2021, January 21) Southern AfricaâTropical Storm Eloise Flash Update No.4, As of 21 January 2021. Accessed January 22, 2021.
- Reuters (2021, January 22) Another big storm, growing stronger, set to hit central Mozambique. Accessed January 22, 2021.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership. Caption by Kathryn Hansen.
