Tropical Cyclone Filipo in the Mozambique Channel
Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features Tropical Cyclone Filipo, which made landfall on the morning of March 12 near the coastal town of Inhassoro, Mozambique.
“In March 2024, low wind shear in the Mozambique Channel allowed Tropical Cyclone Filipo to strengthen off the coast of southeast Africa,” said NASA.
“Around the time of this image, Filipo carried maximum wind speeds of about 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour – equivalent to a tropical storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.”
Oxfam International noted that the storm comes just a year after Cyclone Freddy impacted parts of Mozambique and Malawi. Millions of people in this region have nothing to eat but wild roots after losing their crops to repeated extreme weather.
“Consecutive disasters have made it almost impossible for affected communities to recover and rebuild their lives. Whatever little crops people have tried planting in this growing season have been damaged either due to El Nino-induced six weeks of dry spells or by flash floods,” said Machinda Marongwe, Oxfam in Southern Africa Programme Director.
Filipo ultimately weakened as it moved across land on March 12, but continued to deliver strong winds and heavy rainfall in the Inhambane and Gaza provinces.
According to NASA, the storm was expected to turn southeast and move back over the Indian Ocean by March 14.
The image was captured by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite.
Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
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