Tropical Cyclone Guito's Rainfall

Tropical Cyclone Guito's Rainfall

The TRMM satellite had a look at tropical cyclone Guito in the Mozambique Channel on February 18, 2014 at 1525 UTC. This early evening view occurred only about three hours after Guito attained tropical storm intensity of 35kts (~40 mph). TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) had better coverage of Guito than the Precipitation Radar (PR) instrument whose swath was well to the south of the tropical cyclone's center of circulation. TRMM TMI revealed that Guito was producing rain at a rate of over 50mm/hr (~ 2 inches) in the center of the Mozambique Channel and scattered light rain on Madagascar's western coast.

Tropical cyclone Guito's past and forecast locations are shown overlaid in white.

Tropical Cyclone Guito's Rainfall
 

A rainfall anomaly analysis , made by comparing rainfall data compiled during the twelve year period from 2001-2012 to "near real-time" Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA-RT 3B42RT) data collected for the same period, shows that rainfall in the northern Mozambique Channel has been above normal for the past month. Guito predicted track through the south central Mozambique Channel keeps most of the heavy precipitation away from the southwestern coast of Madagascar. Precipitation (3B42) data for the period from February 11-19, 2014 were analyzed. These rainfall estimates are shown in a simulated 3-D perspective view with higher precipitation amounts appearing to be taller than lower amounts. The highest totals, with amounts in the Mozambique channel greater than 430 mm (~16.9 inches), are shown in light purple. Click here to see simulated 3-D Quicktime or 
MPEG animations of rainfall from February 11-19, 2014.