March 20, 2015 - Tropical Cyclone Olwyn (19S) over Australia

Tropical Cyclone Olwyn (19S) over Australia

Tropical Cyclone Olwyn roared to life as a Category 1 storm on March 11, initially carrying maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (64 km/h). By March 13, the winds peaked at about 98 mph (158 km/h, just off the coast of Western Australia. Fortunately, Olwyn’s winds weakened before striking land as a Category 1 Tropical Cyclone on that same day.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured a true-color image of Tropical Cyclone Olwyn shortly after landfall on March 13. The image was acquired at 02:55 UTC on March 13 (10:55 a.m. WST Australia local time)n The image showed the center of Olwyn near Carnavon, which is located along the western coast of Western Australia. Just to the north of Carnavon and just inland from the coast is Lake Macleod. Bands of thunderstorms from the south swept over Shark Bay and wrapped into the center of Olwyn. Higher clouds associated with Olwyn's circulation extended all the way south to the capital city of Perth, about 900 km from Carnavon. Perth is located in Western Australia's southwestern corner.

After striking the coast, and wreaking considerable damage to animals, crops and homes, Olwyn’s winds dropped quickly. On March 13 at 9:00 p.m. WST Australia local time, Olwyn was located about 43.5 mi (70 km) southeast of Denham, near 26.4 degrees South and 114.0 degrees East. Olwyn was moving to the south-southeast at 16 mph (26 km/h). Olwyn was a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds near 62 mph (100 km/h). The last advisories were issued for the storm on March 14.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 3/13/2015
Resolutions: 1km (729.7 KB), 500m (2.3 MB), 250m (5.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC