News Release

NASA finds a weak and wispy Tropical Cyclone Cebile

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Aqua Image of Cebile

image: NASA's Aqua satellite provided a visible image of Tropical Cyclone Cebile on Feb. 8 at 4:55 a.m. EST (0855 UTC). The storm is devoid of rainfall and appears as a wispy circle of clouds with the exception of at thick band of clouds in the eastern quadrant. view more 

Credit: Credits: NASA/NRL

Vertical wind shear had already taken its toll on Tropical Cyclone Cebile when NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the Southern Pacific Ocean on Feb. 8. Cebile, now a subtropical cyclone, appeared to have wispy clouds circling it, and the storm was devoid of rainfall.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite provided a visible image of Cebile on Feb. 8 at 4:55 a.m. EST (0855 UTC). The storm is appeared as a circle of wispy clouds with the exception of at thick band of clouds in the eastern quadrant.

At 10 a.m. EST (1500 UTC) on Feb. 8, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued their final warning on the system. At that time the center of Tropical Cyclone Cebile was located near 26.3 degrees south and 76.4 degrees east, about 1,177 nautical miles south-southeast of Diego Garcia. The storm was moving toward the west at 15 mph (13 knots/24 kph). Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (35 knots/62 kph).

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted "Animated enhanced infrared satellite imagery reveals a fully exposed and decaying low level circulation center." Cebile was moving through waters too cool to maintain strength, and it was still be battered by strong vertical wind shear. The JTWC expects Cebile to dissipate by Feb. 10

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