Tropical Depression 11S Forms in the Southern Indian Ocean

At 11:20 p.m. ET January 27, TRMM captured Tropical Depression 11S’s rainfall, as it was centered east of La Reunion Island. Although most of the rainfall was light to moderate (yellow and green) there were some areas of heavy rain of over 2 inches per hour (red).

At 4 a.m. ET (09:00 UTC) on January 28, Tropical Depression 11S (TD 11S) had maximum sustained winds near 39 mph (35 knots). It was located about 180 nautical miles east of La Reunion, near 21.7 degree South latitude and 58.9 degrees East longitude. TD 11S is moving southward near 6 mph (5 knots).

La Reunion Island is a French island located in the Southern Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar and about 120 miles southwest of the island of Mauritius.

At 11:20 p.m. ET January 27, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, or TRMM satellite captured Tropical Depression 11S’s rainfall, as it was centered east of La Reunion Island. Although most of the rainfall was light to moderate there were some areas of heavy rain of over 2 inches per hour.

Depression 10P Strengthen into Tropical Storm Nisha

At 6:35 a.m. ET January 28, TRMM captured Tropical Storm Nisha’s rainfall. The storm has strengthened quickly and there are many areas within the storm that have rainfall rates of over 2 inches per hour (red). The green and yellow areas indicate light to moderate rainfall (.78-1.69 inches per hour).

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite is managed by both NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA. At 11:35 UTC (6:35 a.m. ET) today, January 28, TRMM flew over Nisha and captured an image of the storm’s rainfall. The storm has strengthened quickly and there are many areas within the storm that have rainfall rates of over 2 inches per hour. TRMM also noticed that the highest cloud heights on the thunderstorms on the northeast quadrant of the storm are as high as 6 miles (10 kilometers).

The rainfall is all to the southeast of the storm’s center indicating wind shear from the northwest. The yellow and green areas indicate moderate rainfall between .78 to 1.57 inches per hour. The very small red areas are heavy rainfall at almost 2 inches per hour.