On March 26, NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a visible image of Imani at 0836 UTC and showed that the northern half of the tropical cyclone contained very scattered thunderstorms which is conducive to strong wind shear in that quadrant of the storm. This isn’t a good weekend for keeping tropical cyclones alive, as Tropical Storm Omais is becoming extra-tropical in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and Tropical Storm Imani appears doomed over the weekend in the Southern Indian Ocean. Imani was still hanging onto tropical storm status on March 26 at 0900 UTC (5 a.m. EDT) with maximum sustained winds near 52 mph (45 knots), but the storm is running into vertical wind shear – basically a tropical cyclone killer. Imani was located about 810 nautical miles southwest of the Cocos Islands, near 21.3 South and 86.4 East. It was slugging southward at 3 mph (2 knots). |
Tropical Storm Omais is fading fast in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, and will dissipate over the weekend according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. When NASA’s Aqua satellite flew over Omais late on March 25, it already showed signs of falling apart. At 0900 UTC (5 a.m. EDT)on Friday, March 26, Tropical Storm Omais was barely hanging onto tropical storm strength with maximum sustained winds near 39 mph. It was located about 655 nautical miles southwest of the island of Iwo To (formerly Iwo Jima) near 18.3 North and 132.1 East. It was moving north-northeastward at 12 mph (11 knots) and quickly losing its tropical characteristics. The infrared image from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument that flies on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured an image of Omais on March 25 at 16:53 UTC (12:53 p.m. EDT) and revealed that its convection (rapidly rising air that creates the thunderstorms that power a tropical cyclone) was scattered and limited. It appears as if the convection center of circulation was blown apart – which is exactly what the wind shear had done to those high thunderstorm tops. |
