Saturday, 23 February 2013

Current Southern Hemisphere Tropical Systems: Tropical Cyclone 16S (Haruna)



 
230300Z POSITION NEAR 24.6S 46.8E.
TROPICAL CYCLONE (TC) 16S (HARUNA), LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 320 NM 
SOUTH OF ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR, HAS TRACKED SOUTHEASTWARD AT 11 
KNOTS OVER THE PAST SIX HOURS. ANIMATED INFRARED (IR) SATELLITE 
IMAGERY DEPICTS RAPIDLY WEAKENING CORE CONVECTION DUE TO LAND 
INTERACTION. HOWEVER, A 222212Z AMSU IMAGE AND RECENT MICROWAVE 
IMAGERY CONTINUE TO INDICATE TIGHTLY-CURVED, SHALLOW BANDING 
WRAPPING INTO A STRONG LOW-LEVEL CIRCULATION CENTER. THE INITIAL 
INTENSITY IS ASSESSED AT 60 KNOTS BASED ON THE OVERALL STRUCTURE. 
THERE IS FAIR CONFIDENCE IN THE INITIAL POSITION BASED ON A 222337Z 
SSMI IMAGE AND ANIMATED IR IMAGERY. TC 16S IS TRACKING ALONG THE 
SOUTHERN PERIPHERY OF THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE BUT IS EMBEDDED WITHIN 
UPPER-LEVEL WESTERLY FLOW ASSOCIATED WITH A SHORTWAVE TROUGH. 
DYNAMIC MODEL GUIDANCE IS IN GOOD AGREEMENT AND SUPPORTS THE JTWC 
FORECAST TRACK, THEREFORE, THERE IS HIGH CONFIDENCE IN THE FORECAST 
TRACK. THE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE WEAKENING DUE TO 
INCREASING VERTICAL WIND SHEAR ASSOCIATED WITH PERSISTENT WESTERLY 
FLOW AS WELL AS COOLER SST (AFTER TAU 24), THEREFORE, TC 16S SHOULD 
DISSIPATE BY TAU 72. THE REMNANTS WILL LIKELY TRACK WESTWARD TOWARD 
MADAGASCAR AS A STRONG SUBTROPICAL HIGH BUILDS TO THE SOUTH AFTER 
TAU 48.
 
- JTWC + Eumetsat 

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