SW Indian Ocean Storm Fastest Strengthening Ever S. Of Equator; Kammuri Had Coldest Cloud Tops Ever
Barely a tropical storm on Wednesday night EST, Tropical Cyclone Ambali astounded weather watchers on Thursday as it pole-vaulted to the brink of Category 5 strength in the southwest Indian Ocean, counter to nearly all expectations. Ambalis top sustained winds, as assessed from satellite data by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, jumped from 35 knots (40 mph) at 0Z Thursday to 135 knots (155 mph) at 0Z Friday. This increase of 100 knots is the largest 24-hour intensification on record in the Southern Hemisphere, breaking the record of 95 knots (110 mph) from Cyclone Ernie in 2017. It falls just short of the world record set by Hurricane Patricia in 2015 of 105 knots (120 mph).
Ambali was ramping down on Friday almost as quickly as it cranked up. As of 12Z Friday, Ambalis top winds were already back down to 90 knots (105 mph), making it a Category 2 storm. JTWC predicted that Ambali will weaken to a tropical storm by 12Z Saturday, then slowly dissipate several hundred north of La Reunion and Mauritius. [
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Theres also a bigger context in play that gave Ambali a boost. The cyclone is just one part of a remarkable burst of activity in the western Indian Ocean. On Friday morning, Ambali was one of four tropical systems splayed across the western Indian Oceantwo north of the equator and two south of it.
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Kammuri may have earned a distinctive place in tropical cyclone historynot because of its impacts in the Philippines, but from its behavior several days earlier. While still a Category 1 typhoon well east of the Philippines, Kammuri was generating exceptionally strong convection, with storms extending high enough in the atmosphere to produce extremely cold cloud tops. At 0420Z on Saturday, 30 November 2019, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard the NOAA-20 satellite detected a cloud-top infrared brightness temperature just west of Kammuris center of 109.4°C (164.9°F). According to Mark Lander (University of Guam), this appears to be the only cloud-top temperature on record known to exceed by a wide margin the world record reported by Elizabeth Ebert and Greg Holland in 1992 of102.2°C (148°F) from Tropical Cyclone Hilda east of Australia in 1990. [
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https://desdemonadespair.net/2019/12/two-tropical-cyclones-set-records-in-one-week-ambali-has-fastest-intensification-on-record-south-of-the-equator-and-kammuri-has-tallest-coldest-cloud-tops-ever.html