Tag: Kyarr 2019

Oct. 31, 2019 – NASA Finds Small Area of Heavy Rain Left in Tropical Cyclone Kyarr

Tropical Cyclone Kyarr appears to be winding down as it moves through the Arabian Sea and NASA provided forecasters with an analysis of rainfall rates occurring in the weakening storm.

NASA has the unique capability of peering under the clouds in storms and measuring the rate in which rain is falling. Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core passed over Kyarr from its orbit in space and measured rainfall rates throughout the storm.

The GPM’s core satellite passed over Tropical Cyclone Kyarr in the Arabian Sea, Northern Indian Ocean on Oct. 31 at 3:56 a.m. EDT (0756 UTC) and found the heaviest rainfall occurring in a very small area around the center of circulation where rain was falling at 1.6 inches (40 mm) per hour. Most of the rain falling throughout the rest of the system was occurring at a rate of over 25 mm (about 1 inch) per hour Forecasters incorporate the rainfall data into their forecasts.

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on Oct. 31, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center or JTWC noted that Kyarr was located near latitude 17.7 degrees north and longitude 59.9. degrees east, about 174 miles south-southeast of Masirah Island, Oman. Kyarr was moving to the southwest and had maximum sustained winds 35 knots (40 mph/65 kph).

Kyarr is moving southwest and is weakening rapidly. The storm is expected to dissipate before reaching Socotra Island.

Hurricanes are the most powerful weather event on Earth. NASA’s expertise in space and scientific exploration contributes to essential services provided to the American people by other federal agencies, such as hurricane weather forecasting.

Both the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA and NASA manage GPM.

By Rob Gutro
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Oct. 30, 2019 – NASA Find Tropical Cyclone Kyarr With a Cloud-filled Eye

NASA satellite imagery revealed that Tropical Cyclone Kyarr has maintained its eye, although that eye has become cloud-filled.

On Oct. 30, the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Terra satellite provided a visible image on Kyarr as it tracks through the Arabian Sea. The MODIS image showed that the storm maintained an eye, but it had become filled with high clouds. The eye also appeared somewhat oblong, indicating that the storm is weakening. Large feeder bands, that is, bands of powerful thunderstorms that spiral into the low-level center, extended north and south of center.

The shape of the storm is a clue to forecasters that a storm is either strengthening or weakening. If a storm takes on a more rounded shape it is getting more organized and strengthening. Conversely, if it becomes less rounded or elongated, it is a sign the storm is weakening.

After the MODIS image was taken, a microwave satellite image revealed the defined oblong microwave eye feature, but the bulk of the deep convection (strong thunderstorms) were confined to the eastern semicircle.

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on Oct. 30, the center of Tropical Cyclone Kyarr was located near latitude 19.2 degrees north and longitude 61.8 degrees east. That puts the center about 184 nautical miles east-southeast of Masirah Island, Oman. Maximum sustained winds were near 90 knots (104 mph/167 kph).

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center or JTWC noted that Kyarr is moving toward the southwest. JTWC noted, “The system should weaken gradually as environmental conditions degrade with more rapid weakening expected after 24 hours due to increasing easterly upper-level convergent flow [where lines of equal atmospheric pressure are pressed together between a high-pressure area to the north and the tropical cyclone or low-pressure system] and potentially dry air entrainment [dry air moving into the storm and sapping the moisture that helps create the thunderstorms the make up the storm].”

Hurricanes are the most powerful weather event on Earth. NASA’s expertise in space and scientific exploration contributes to essential services provided to the American people by other federal agencies, such as hurricane weather forecasting.

By Rob Gutro
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Oct. 29, 2019 – NASA Identifies a Strong Arabian Sea Tropical Cyclone Kyarr

NASA’s Aqua satellite captured an image of Tropical Cyclone Kyarr in the Arabian Sea is it headed west toward Oman. The visible image showed a powerful and organized storm with an eye.

On Oct 29 at 4:45 a.m. EDT (0845 UTC), the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite provided a visible image of Kyarr. The MODIS image showed the cyclone continues to produce a large area of deep convection and strong thunderstorms around the visible eye. Satellite imagery showed the ragged eye is about 19 nautical miles in diameter. Bands of thunderstorms were wrapping into the low-level center from the north and east of the center.

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC), the center of Tropical Cyclone Kyarr was located near latitude 19.4 degrees north and longitude 63.1 degrees east. That is about 257 nautical miles east-southeast of Masirah Island.  The storm has tracked northwestward. However, two large areas of high pressure are expected to turn the storm to the southwest. Maximum sustained winds were near 115 knots (132 mph/213 kph) and the storm is on a weakening trend.

Kyarr is forecast to turn to the southwest and parallel the coast of Oman and Yemen, move through the opening of the Gulf of Aden, pass just west of Socotra Island and make landfall in Somalia.

NASA’s Aqua satellite is one in a fleet of NASA satellites that provide data for hurricane research.

Hurricanes are the most powerful weather event on Earth. NASA’s expertise in space and scientific exploration contributes to essential services provided to the American people by other federal agencies, such as hurricane weather forecasting.

For updated forecasts, visit: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov

By Rob Gutro
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Oct. 28, 2019 – NASA Finds Arabian Sea Tropical Cyclone Kyarr’s Heavy Rainfall

Tropical Cyclone Kyarr is moving through the central Arabian Sea and NASA provided forecasters with an analysis of rainfall rates occurring in the powerful tropical cyclone.

NASA has the unique capability of peering under the clouds in storms and measuring the rate in which rain is falling. Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM passed over Kyarr from its orbit in space and measured rainfall rates throughout the storm.

GPM passed over Tropical Cyclone Kyarr in the Arabian Sea, Northern Indian Ocean on Oct. 28 at 4:56 a.m. EDT (0856 UTC). GPM found the heaviest rainfall stretching from the northern to the eastern side of the storm where it was falling at a rate of over 40 mm (about 1.6 inches) per hour. Forecasters incorporate the rainfall data into their forecasts.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on Oct. 28, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center or JTWC noted that Kyarr was located near latitude 18.5 degrees north and longitude 64.4 degrees east, about 337 miles east-southeast of Masirah Island, Oman. Kyarr was moving to the west-northwest and had maximum sustained winds 130 knots (150 mph/241 kph). That means that Kyarr is a major hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind scale and is equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane.

Kyarr is moving west and is forecast to start weakening within 24 hours. The storm is then forecast to turn to the west-southwest while slowly weakening as it approaches the Gulf of Aden.

The previous day, on Oct. 27, 2019 at 5:05 p.m. EDT (2105 UTC), the AIRS instrument aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite provided cloud top temperatures using infrared data. Coldest temperatures, as cold as or colder than minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 53 degrees Celsius) appeared around the eye. NASA research has shown that storms with cloud top temperatures that cold can produce heavy rain, and that heavy rain was seen in the GPM image taken on Oct. 28.  The image was created at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Hurricanes are the most powerful weather event on Earth. NASA’s expertise in space and scientific exploration contributes to essential services provided to the American people by other federal agencies, such as hurricane weather forecasting.

Both the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA and NASA manage GPM.

By Rob Gutro
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Oct. 25, 2019 – NASA Observes Tropical Storm Kyarr Form Near Southwest India Coast

Tropical Storm Kyarr formed near the southwestern coast of India, and NASA’s Aqua satellite provided forecasters with a visible image of the storm that revealed it organized quickly.

Kyarr formed early on Oct. 25 from a low-pressure area designated as System 97A in the northern Indian Ocean. Once the storm consolidated, it intensified quickly and became a tropical storm just off the southwest India coast.

The India Meteorological Department issued some warnings on Kyarr on Oct. 25. There is a heavy rainfall warning in effect that calls for light to moderate rainfall in most places. Heavy to very heavy falls are predicted at isolated places very likely over coastal districts of Karnataka, Goa and south Konkan and isolated heavy rainfall over north Konkan during next 24 hours. There is also a wind warning in effect calling for gale-force winds with speeds reaching 70-80 kph (43 to 50 mph) gusting to 90 kph (56 mph), prevailing around the system center over east-central Arabian Sea. It is very likely to increase gradually becoming 90-100 kph (56 to 62 mph).

On Oct. 25 at 5:10 a.m. EDT (0910 UTC), the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite provided a visible image of Kyarr. The image showed that there is a large band of powerful thunderstorms circling Kyarr’s low-level center of circulation. In addition, infrared satellite imagery showed that Kyarr has a solid core of strong convection – that is, rising air which forms the thunderstorms that make up a tropical cyclone, wrap around the low-level circulation center. Microwave satellite imagery revealed the storm had developed an eye, a sign of strengthening.

The shape of the storm is a clue to forecasters that a storm is either strengthening or weakening. If a storm takes on a more rounded shape it is getting more organized and strengthening. Conversely, if it becomes less rounded or elongated, it is a sign the storm is weakening.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on Oct. 25, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center or JTWC noted Tropical Cyclone Kyarr was located near latitude 16.3 degrees north and longitude 71.9 degrees east, about 579 nautical miles south-southeast of Karachi, Pakistan. Maximum sustained winds were 55 knots (63 mph/102 kph).

Kyarr is drifting generally northward while located between two subtropical ridges (elongated areas of high pressure) located to the northwest and northeast of the tropical storm. As those ridges strengthen and build, Kyarr is forecast to turn to the northwest and rapidly intensify.

The JTWC expects the storm will peak after three days, but will then start to weaken on approach to the Oman coastline.

Hurricanes are the most powerful weather event on Earth. NASA’s expertise in space and scientific exploration contributes to essential services provided to the American people by other federal agencies, such as hurricane weather forecasting.

By Rob Gutro
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center