image: The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite flew over Tropical Storm Cleo on Dec. 10 at 20:23 UTC. There was one small area of heavy rainfall, in its northwestern side (in red) of about 2 inches per hour. view more
Credit: NASA/SSAI, Hal Pierce
Rainfall in the once-known Cyclone Cleo has really diminished over the last 24 hours, and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite has confirmed it. Cleo is fading and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center has acknowledged its demise, in its final warning on the storm today.
At 4 a.m. ET today, December 11, Cleo's maximum sustained winds were down to 40 mph, and waning fast. That make Cleo a weak tropical storm at the moment, but it is expected to dissipate in the next day or two, because of hostile atmospheric conditions (wind shear). Cleo's center was located about 480 miles southwest of Diego Garcia, near 13.9 degree South latitude and 67.7 East longitude.
The TRMM satellite, managed by both NASA and the Japanese Space Agency known as JAXA flew over Cleo on December 10 at 20:23 UTC (3:23 p.m.ET) when it was still showing one small area of heavy rainfall, in its northwestern side.
Satellite data has also confirmed that Cleo's low level center of circulation is now fully exposed, and that deep convection (heavy rainfall) that TRMM noticed yesterday is nearly gone. Cleo is not expected to regenerate because it's battling wind shear and dry air – two factors that will lead to the storm's dissipation over the next day or two.