SUPER CICLONE EUNICE NO ÍNDICO

Ciclone Tropical Eunice categoria 5, em imagem animada no dia 30.01.2015.

Last Updated	01/02/2015, 10:00:00 (Hora oficial do Brasil)
Location	-21.7N 279.7E	Movement	ESE at 24 mph
Wind	150KPH

Last Updated	30/01/2015, 22:00:00 (Hora oficial do Brasil)
Location	-20.1N 290.1E	Movement	ESE at 10 mph
Wind	240KPH

Last Updated	30/01/2015, 10:00:00 (Hora oficial do Brasil)
Location	-19.2N 291.5E	Movement	SSE at 10 mph
Wind	260KPH

Tropical Cyclone Eunice Reaches Category 5 Status

By Jon Erdman

Published Jan 30 2015 02:34 PM EST

weather.com

It may be winter in the northern hemisphere, but Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Eunice is churning south of the equator as January wraps up.
Eunice, first classified as a tropical storm Tuesday Jan. 27 about 1200 miles east of Madagascar in the southern Indian Ocean, exploded from a tropical storm with winds estimated at 60 mph Tuesday evening (U.S. EST) to Category 5 intensity, with maximum winds of 160 mph just 48 hours later, according to the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center. This is an impressive rate of rapid intensification.
(WATCH: The Saffir Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale)

Visible satellite image of Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Eunice on Jan. 29, 2015 taken from NASA's MODIS instrument aboard the Terra satellite.  (NASA Worldview)

These intensities are estimated from satellites. No direct measurements of tropical cyclone winds are taken by reconnaissance aircraft in the southern Indian Ocean.

Zoomed-up visible image of the eye of Tropical Cyclone Eunice on Jan. 29, 2015.  (NASA Worldview)

Fortunately, Eunice is no threat to land, and will spin down in the middle of the south Indian Ocean by early next week far from Australia's west coast and Madagascar.
(MAPS: Forecast Path | Curent Status/Wundermap)
Earlier in the week, as Eunice was first gathering strength, Tropical Storm Diamondra swirled just over 900 miles to its east-southeast, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. Diamondra has since fizzled as a tropical cyclone.

 

Composite satellite image showing Tropical Cyclones Eunice and Diamondra on Jan. 28, 2015.   (NASA Earth Observatory, EUMETSAT, Japanese Meteorological Agency)

The Weather Channel hurricane specialist Michael Lowry says Cyclone Monica in April 2006 was a Category 5 cyclone in the south Indian Ocean with peak winds up to 180 mph, but instead formed in the south Pacific basin.
Daryl (Agnielle) in November 1995 was the strongest tropical cyclone to have formed in the south Indian Ocean, according to Lowry, packing estimated peak sustained winds of 175 mph.
Eunice is the second intense tropical cyclone of at least Category 4 status to flare up in the southern Indian Ocean in less than three weeks.
Tropical Cyclone Bansi grew to Category 4 status on January 12 to the east of Madgascar and remained over open water. Spectacular photos of lightning in Bansi's eyewall were captured from the International Space Station.
(IMAGES: Lightning Photographed in Bansi's Eye)
As of this writing, the last Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic Basin was Hurricane Felix on Sep. 4, 2007.
The typical south Indian Ocean season runs from October through May, with peaks in activity in January and February, which are summer months in the southern hemisphere.
(MORE: Hurricane Central)
This is when the so-called monsoon trough of low pressure is most firmly established, providing a source of low-level spin and zone of converging air to allow thunderstorms to gather together, kicking off the feedback process of forming a tropical cyclone.