April 27, 2016 - Tropical Cyclone Amos (20P) in the South Pacific Ocean

Tropical Cyclone Amos (20P) in the South Pacific Ocean

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite flew over Tropical Cyclone Amos as the storm headed eastward to threaten American Samoa on April 22, 2016, AT 0145 UTC (April 21 at 9:45 p.m. EDT).

At the time the image was captured, the southeastern fringe of strong thunderstorms circling the storm's center was near the island of Mata Utu, the capital of Wallis and Futuna, France. A large band of thunderstorms feeding into the center from the east was seen just west of American Samoa. American Samoa is a U.S. territory covering seven islands and atolls. The largest island, Tutuila, is the home of Pago Pago, the capital city.

Later that evening, on April 22 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) Tropical Cyclone Amos' maximum sustained winds increased to about 103.6 mph (166.7 km/h), making it a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The storm was moving to the east at 8 knots (9.2 mph/14.8 km/h). The National Weather Service (NWS) in Pago Pago issued a high surf warning for all shores of American Samoa on April 22 at 2:25 a.m., as they were expecting Hurricane Amos to generate dangerous surfs of 14 to 16 feet along the southwest, west, northwest and north facing reefs, then building to near 18 to 22 by April 23. Amos skirted American Samoa on April 23, bringing heavy gusts, rain and pounding surf, as well as downed trees and some flooding, but major damage has not been reported.

Strong wind shear prevented the storm from intensifying before tracking near the islands, and by the morning of April 24 the wind shear began tearing the storm apart. The NWS reported the storm had dissipated by the evening of April 24.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 4/22/2016
Resolutions: 1km (1009.5 KB), 500m (3.4 MB), 250m (8 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC