Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features Tropical Cyclone Freddy, which has been churning in the Indian Ocean for more than a month. 

“The storm first developed off the North Australian coast on February 6, 2023, and then tracked across the entire Indian Ocean before striking the east coast of Madagascar on February 21, 2023,” says NASA.

“It then crossed the Mozambique Channel and made landfall in Mozambique’s Inhambane province near Vilankulo, where it stalled and dropped a huge amount of rain before doubling back and nearly hit the west coast of Madagascar again. As of March 8, 2023, the weakening storm was following a northwesterly track toward a likely second landfall in Mozambique – this time in the Zambezia province.”

“Over the course of Freddy’s 32-day journey, the World Meteorological Organization says the storm likely became the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record. The previous record holder, Hurricane John, persisted for 31 days in the Central Pacific in 1994.”

The image was captured on March 8, 2023 by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-20 satellite.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 

–—

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Editor

Check us out on EarthSnap, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.