image: This infrared image of Cyclone Imelda was captured on April 9 at 0935 UTC (5:35 a.m. EDT) by the AIRS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The areas of purple indicate strong thunderstorms with heavy rainfall, whose cloud top temperatures are as cold as -63F/-52C. view more
Credit: Credit: NASA JPL, Ed Olsen
Cyclone Imelda has continues to strengthen, and infrared NASA satellite imagery indicated powerful convection throughout the storm.
Infrared satellite imagery indicates cloud top temperatures, and the colder the temperatures, the higher the cloud top is in the troposphere. Higher cloud tops indicate stronger uplift in the air, and that means stronger thunderstorms can develop. When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Cyclone Victoria on April 9 at 0935 UTC (05:35 a.m. EDT), the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument captured infrared data on the strengthening cyclone.
On April 10 at 0900 UTC (5 a.m. EDT), Imelda's maximum sustained winds were near 70 knots (80.5 mph/129.6 kph), making it a category one Cyclone. Imelda was centered near 12.1 south latitude and 58.2 east longitude, about 570 nautical miles north-northeast of La Reunion. Imelda is moving to the west-southwest at 4 knots (4.6 mph/7.4 kph) and has slowed in forward movement.
Imelda is moving around the northwestern edge of a ridge (elongated area) of high pressure and is in an area of light wind shear. A trough of low pressure is expected to push Imelda to the southeast.