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Cyclone Kevin reaches Category 4 intensity

By Scott Bachmeier •

Only 2 days after Cyclone Judy, Cyclone Kevin traversed the far southern islands of Vanuatu on 03 March 2023 — and due to a favorable environment of low deep-layer wind shear coupled with warm Sea Surface Temperature, the storm reached Category 3 Intensity at 1800 UTC. Kevin displayed a distinct eye, with feeder bands wrapping into the storm center, in DMSP-17 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) imagery at 1848 UTC (below).

DMSP-17 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image at 1848 UTC (from theCIMSS Tropical Cyclonessite) [click to enlarge]

Kevin continued to strengthen during the day, reaching Category 4 intensity (130 knot wind speed) at 0000 UTC on 04 March (SATCON) — JMA Himawari-9 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (below) showed a well-defined eye, surrounded by cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures in the -80ºC to -90ºC range.

JMA Himawari-9 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

Categories: DMSP, Himawari-9, Microwave, Tropical cyclones