Tropical cyclone Oma threatens Vanuatu seen by a satellite at a Finnish nuclear power plant
Tropical Cyclone Oma continued to move southeast in the South Pacific and continued to affect Vanuatu. A satellite from NASA-NOAA’s Finnish nuclear power plant gave a visible picture of the storm.
The Finnish nuclear power plant passed Oman on 13 February and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) gave a visible picture of the storm. The VIIRS image showed a circular thunderstorm center, with large, wide thunderstorms wrapping around the center from the northwest. This is because the storm is experiencing east winds pushing clouds west and away from the center. The picture also showed the southeast quadrant already above Espiritu Santu in Vanuatu.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) found on February 13 at 4 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) that Oma was close to 14.6 degrees south latitude and 165.2 east longitude, about 262 nautical miles northwest of Port Vila in Vanuatu. The maximum continuous wind was close to 45 knots (52 mph / 83 kmph). My own moved west to southwest.
On February 13, the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department (VMGD) issued Tropical Cyclone Warning No. 9 in Port Vila, Vanuatu for the provinces of Torba, Sanma and Malampa. Strong winds are affecting these provinces today, February 13th. The VMGD warning stated: “Heavy rains and flash floods in low-lying areas and near the river bank, including coastal floods, continue to affect the provinces of Torba, Sanma and Malampa tonight. The sea will be very heavy or phenomenal, and heavy and phenomenal waves are expected.”
Forecasters from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said Oman is expected to strengthen the next day as it begins to turn south. By February 15, as Oma turns more southwest and heads north from Vanuatu toward New Caledonia, increasing wind shear and movement over cooler waters will dampen the storm.
Updated local forecasts for VMGD can be found at: https://www.vmgd.gov.vu/
The Aqua satellite catches Tropical Cyclone’s own evolution
Quotation: Tropical cyclone Oma threatens Vanuatu, seen on Finnish nuclear power plant satellite (2019, 13 February) retrieved on 17.11.2021 at https://phys.org/news/2019-02-tropical-cyclone-oma-threatens-vanuatu.html
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