The World of Tropics

A quick look at all the ocean basins of the world. We notice that they are two active tropical systems. One of them in the Southern Indian Ocean, the other in the Western Pacific Ocean.

Cyclone Claudia is our system in the Southern Indian Ocean. Claudia is a category 3 storm will maximum sustained winds of 115 mph. Not much land in the Southern Indian Ocean for Claudia to affect. Claudia will continue to move south and should only be affecting the shipping lanes. I always enjoy getting images of these southern hemisphere storms. It is not often we get to see clockwise cyclonic flow on such a large scale. Claudia has a well defined eye in the center of her convection and is expected to maintain her strength until she reaches 20 degrees South, where she is then expected to begin to weaken.

The second system is Typhoon 26 W. This was Super Typhoon Bopha earlier in the week. Bopha made landfall in the southern Philippines causing massive destruction and killing hundreds of people. This typhoon is now affecting the northern islands of the Philippines where it continues to cause flooding. Winds are sustained at 95 mph, but this system is very poorly organized as many of the thunderstorms and convection are displaced away from the center. This system is expected to curve back south and slowly dissipate over the next few days.

Category: Tropical