![](\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/04\/HIM09_IR_MAILA_FD_RI_07APR2026_loop_HIMAWARI-9_2026097_000000_2026098_000000.gif\")
<\/a>10-minute Himawari-9 Infrared (10.4 \u00b5m) images, from 0000 UTC on 07 April to 0000 UTC on 08 April [click to play animated GIF]<\/p><\/div>10-minute Full Disk scan JMA<\/strong><\/a> Himawari-9 AHI<\/strong><\/a> Infrared images (above)<\/strong><\/em> showed Cyclone Maila as it rapidly intensified to a Category 4 storm (ADT<\/strong><\/a> | SATCON<\/strong><\/a>) just southwest of the Soloman Islands on 07 April 2026.<\/p>\n A 2.5-minute Himawari-9 Target Sector was positioned over Maila until 1449 UTC — which provided a smoother depiction of the evolution of Maila’s eye during rapid intensification (below)<\/em><\/strong>. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were -90\u00baC and colder (yellow pixels embedded within dark purple areas) — for example, at 0107 UTC<\/strong><\/a> and 0912 UTC<\/strong><\/a>. No -90\u00baC pixels were seen in the 10-minute Full Disk scan Infrared images, highlighting the value of 2.5-minute Target Sector imagery for capturing subtle details.<\/p>\n 2.5-minute Himawari-9 Infrared (10.4 \u00b5m) images, from 0002-1449 UTC on 07 April [click to play animated GIF]<\/p><\/div>Maila had been moving through an environment characterized by low values of deep-layer wind shear (below)<\/strong><\/em>, a factor which favored intensification.<\/p>\n Himawari-9 Infrared (11.2 \u00b5m) images with an overlay of streamlines and contours of deep-layer wind shear at 2100 UTC<\/p><\/div>\n Microwave imagery from DMSP-18 (below)<\/strong><\/em> displayed the eyewall structure of Maila — which was partially eroded along its eastern edge at that time.<\/p>\n DMSP-18 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image at 1749 UTC on 07 April<\/p><\/div>\n A Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image from RCM-3 (below)<\/em><\/strong> sampled wind speeds as high as 118 kts in the NW quadrant<\/strong><\/a> of Maila.<\/p>\n<\/a>