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Cyclone Gezani makes landfall on Madagascar as a Category 3 storm

By Scott Bachmeier •

Meteosat-9 Infrared Window (10.8 µm) images, from 0600-1900 UTC on 10 February [click to play animated GIF]

EUMETSAT Meteosat-9 Infrared images (above) showed Cyclone Gezani as it made landfall along the east coast of Madagascar (near the city of Toamasina, station identifier FMMT) around 1645 UTC on 10 February 2026 — as a 110-kt Category 3 storm (JTWC discussion). Gezani had been rapidly intensifying on 10 February prior to landfall (ADT | SATCON). After landfall, the eye of Gezani quickly became cloud-filled as the storm interacted with the topography of the island. Gezani was responsible for at least 41 fatalities, and displaced more than 16000 residents.

A time series of surface data from Toamasina (below) depicted a wind gust of 73 kts at 1500 UTC — their final report before apparently abandoning the airport, or stronger winds subsequently causing power outages.

Time series of surface data from Toamasina, Madagascar [click to enlarge]

An ATMS Microwave image (below) displayed the eyewall of Gezani at 1034 UTC, about 1.5 hours prior to the storm reaching Category 3 intensity.

ATMS Microwave (183 GHz) image at 1034 UTC on 10 February

Meteosat-9 Infrared images with an analysis of deep-layer wind shear (below) indicated that Gezani was moving through an environment of very low shear — a factor that was favorable for the tropical cyclone reaching Category 3 intensity several hours prior to making landfall.

Meteosat-9 Infrared Window images, with contours and streamlines of deep-layer wind shear at 1200 UTC on 10 February

An analysis of Sea Surface Temperature (below) showed that Gezani had been traversing relatively warm water, with SST values of 28C.

Sea Surface Temperature (SST) analysis, with the track of Gezani ending at 1200 UTC on 10 February

ADT, SATCON, ATMS, Wind Shear and SST imagery were sourced from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site.

Categories: ATMS, Meteosat, Microwave, Tropical cyclones