image: When NASA's TRMM satellite passed over Tropical Storm Anais on Oct. 16 at 0654 UTC (2:54 a.m. EDT), light to moderate rainfall (green and blue) was occurring southeast of the center and falling at a rate between .78 to 1.57 inches/20 to 40 mm per hour. There no areas of heavy rainfall, indicating that the storm had weakened since the previous day. view more
Credit: SSAI/NASA, Hal Pierce
Satellite imagery from NASA's TRMM satellite showed that wind shear is pushing the bulk of rainfall away from the center of Tropical Storm Anais.
When NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite passed over Tropical Storm Anais on Oct. 16 at 0654 UTC (2:54 a.m. EDT), light to moderate rainfall was occurring southeast of the center and falling at a rate between .78 to 1.57 inches/20 to 40 mm per hour. The displacement of rainfall from around the storm's center to the southeast indicates moderate to strong northwesterly wind shear.There no areas of heavy rainfall, indicating that the storm had weakened since the previous day.
Forecasters at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted "the TRMM image depicts tightly-curved, shallow convective (thunderstorm) banding wrapping into a well-defined center with deep convective banding limited to the south quadrant."
Tropical Storm Anais had maximum sustained winds near 55 knots (63.2 mph/102 kph) on Oct. 16 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT). Anais was located near 14.4 South and 59.8 East, about 500 nautical miles (575 miles/926 km) north-northeast of La Reunion and moving toward the west-southwest at 9 knots (10.3 mph/16.6 kph).
Anais is forecast to continue tracking to the west-southwest toward Madagascar, while weakening.