Image of cyclone Freddy got on February 21, 2023, by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-20 satellite.
The hurricane made landfall on February 21, 2023, after taking a trip for more than 2 weeks throughout the Indian Ocean.
After traveling for 15 days across the Indian Ocean, Tropical Cyclone Freddy made landfall on the east coast of Madagascar on the night of February 21, 2023.
This image reveals Freddy simply east of Madagascar at 1:50 p.m. regional time (10:50 Universal Time) on February 21. It was acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-20 satellite.
As Freddy made landfall north of Mananjary around 7:20 p.m. local time, its winds determined about 130 kilometers (80 miles) per hour, however precise wind speeds at landfall were yet to be verified. The seaside town of Mananjary, house to 25,000 individuals, was previously hit hard in February 2022 by the lethal Cyclone Batsirai.
Projections called for Freddy to bring destructive winds, storm rise, and heavy rains as the storm moves inland. Rain might be specifically damaging in places still recovering from Cyclone Cheneso, which killed lots of individuals and left thousands homeless in the island nation in January 2023.
Considering that forming near Indonesia on February 6, Freddy has actually taken a trip about 7,200 kilometers throughout the Indian Ocean, according to the UK Met Office. The 15-day life expectancy of the cyclone is unusual; few cyclones take a trip so far and are sustained for so long. The longest-lived cyclone in the southern hemisphere was Leon-Eline in 2000, which was sustained for 18.5 days and traveled a comparable path to Freddy.
Freddy was anticipated to continue moving westward and cross into the Mozambique Channel prior to landing and strengthening on Mozambique later on in the week. Freddy was the 2nd cyclone to hit Madagascar throughout the 2022– 2023 season, which ranges from around late October to May in the southwest Indian Ocean.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, utilizing VIIRS information from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).
