Tropical Storm Olga: Three Times a Lady, and Another Australian Landfall Coming

NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over Olga at 11:29 p.m. EST Jan. 28 and the AMSR-E instrument measured the winds on Olga’s eastern side to be around 34 mph or 30 knots (in red), just before she strengthened back to tropical storm status.

Just like 1980s song by the Commodores, “Three Times a Lady,” Olga has become a tropical storm for the third time in northern Australia. NASA satellite imagery showed that Olga’s center moved back into the warm waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria and it has regained strength.

NASA’s Aqua satellite saw Olga’s center re-entering the Gulf early on January 29, and satellite imagery indicated the storm was strengthening.

Residents of the northern coastal areas in Australia’s Northern Territory and Queensland are again under tropical cyclone warnings and watches, now that Olga is back in the Gulf. Olga isn’t expected to stay in the Gulf more than a day, however, before it makes landfall near Normanton, Queensland on January 30.

A Cyclone Warning remains in effect for coastal and island communities from the Northern Territory/Queensland border to Kowanyama extending inland to Croydon in Queensland.

Tropical Storm Nisha Being Battered by Wind Shear

TRMM captured Nisha’s rainfall on Jan. 28 at 1947 UTC (2:47 p.m. ET). The rainfall is occurring from the south to northeast of the storm’s center. The yellow and green areas indicate moderate rainfall between .78 to 1.57 inches per hour. Red areas are heavy rainfall at almost 2 inches per hour.

Nisha is not expected to maintain its tropical storm status this weekend, because it is being battered by wind shear.

At 10 a.m. ET, January 29, Tropical Storm Nisha was barely hanging onto its status as a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds near 39 mph (35 knots). It was located 150 nautical miles west-northwest of Rarotonga, near 19.8 South and 161.9 West. It was moving east-northeast near 11 mph.