March 19, 2019 - Tropical Cyclone Trevor

Tropical Cyclone Trevor

On March 17, 2019, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of Tropical Cyclone Trevor forming in the Coral Sea of the Southwestern Pacific Ocean. By March 18, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) posted warnings on the storm as it approached Queensland. As of the evening of March 18, a tropical cyclone warning is in force from Orford Ness to Cooktown and a tropical cyclone watch is in force from Cape York to Porpuraaw.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported at 5:00 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on March 18 that Trevor was located at 12.3 degrees south latitude and 145.0 degrees east longitude. That’s approximately 280 nautical miles north of Cairns, Australia. Trevor was moving west. Maximum sustained winds were near 50 knots (57 mph/84 km/h) and strengthening.

JTWC expects that Trevor will strengthen to 70 knots (80.5 /129 km/h), before making landfall in the Cape York Peninsula on Tuesday, March 19. After crossing the peninsula, the storm will emerge into the Gulf of Carpentaria, where it is expected to re-intensify. The forecast track takes Trevor to a second landfall near the Queensland / Northern Territories border on Friday, March 22.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 3/17/2019
Resolutions: 1km (469.1 KB), 500m (1.4 MB), 250m (4.2 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC