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Tropical Cyclone Harold makes landfall on Vanuatu

By Scott Bachmeier •

Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Tropical Cyclone Harold made landfall on Vanuatu’s largest island of Espiritu Santo as a Category 4 storm (ADT | SATCON) on 05 April 2020. JMA Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (above) showed the emergence of a well defined eye — which exhibited some trochoidal motion. Cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were -90ºC and colder (yellow pixels embedded within dark purple) before the eye became evident. The structure of the eye was seen to deteriorate somewhat after Harold made landfall.

Himawari-8 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (below) revealed a similar deterioration of the eye after landfall.

Himawari-8 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Himawari-8 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP as viewed using RealEarth (below) provided more detailed view of Harold several hours before landfall.

VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]

VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]

A toggle between NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images at 1359 UTC (below) helped to highlight the cloud-top gravity waves between the eye of Harold and the west coast of Espiritu Santo.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (credit: William Straka, CIMSS) [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (credit: William Straka, CIMSS) [click to enlarge]

A DMSP-18 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) showed Harold at 1719 UTC.

DMSP-18 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image [click to enlarge]

DMSP-18 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image [click to enlarge]

===== 06 April Update =====

Himawari-8 "Clean" Infrared (10.4 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Himawari-8 “Clean” Infrared (10.4 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Himawari-8 Infrared images (above) showed Harold as it intensified to a Category 5 storm while moving across the islands of Vanuatu on 06 April.

 

Categories: DMSP, Himawari-8, Microwave, NOAA-20, RealEarth, Suomi NPP, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS