Still safely at sea, Edzani now a tropical storm

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NASA JPL, Ed Olsen

The weekend wasn't very helpful to Edzani, once a powerful Cyclone, now weakened to a tropical storm in the Southern Indian Ocean. That's because of cooler waters and increased wind shear. On Monday, January 11 at 10 a.m. ET (1500 UTC) Edzani's maximum sustained winds were near 52 mph (45 knots). Edzani's center was about 970 nautical miles east-southeast of La Reunion island, near 26.0 South and 72.3 East. Edzani was moving south-southeast near 13 mph, but the storm is expected to turn to the southwest in the next day. It will still remain in open waters and poses no threat to land.

When NASA's Aqua satellite flew over Edzani on Friday, January 8, it was still a tropical cyclone. Over the weekend it hit cooler waters and windshear which have really weakened the storm. On January 8, infrared satellite imagery from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on Aqua showed Edzani as a tight rounded storm. Since then, it has lost its "roundness" and has become somewhat asymmetrical.

Satellite data has revealed that Edzani's low level center of circulation has become exposed, and that it's convection, which is now confined to the eastern half of the system is decreasing. Both of those factors indicate a weakening storm. Another thing tearing at the storm is vertical wind shear, which has increased over the last 12 hours.

Forecasters now expect Edzani to continue weakening further and dissipate by mid-week.

Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center