A potent cyclone is about to pummel Mozambique...again
UPDATE: April 25, 2019, 1:07 p.m. EDT Cyclone Kenneth "slammed into Mozambique" early Thursday afternoon Eastern Time, reports NOAA's Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The storm — which may have struck as powerful Category 4 cyclone — struck just north of the city of Pemba, home to some 200,000 people.
After Cyclone Idai dumped enough water on Mozambique to create a sprawling inland sea in March, yet another powerful tempest is on a direct path to the storm-battered nation.
Cyclone Kenneth, currently a powerful Category 4 storm, is expected to hit a different, northern part of the African nation late Thursday (local time).
Similar to Idai, Kenneth will likely be devastating. The UK Meteorological Office expects heavy rains to deluge the soaked ground for days. Winds, currently at over 130 mph, will somewhat weaken as the cyclone hits land, but are still forecast to howl at over 100 mph.
Take a look at the approaching storm:
No tropical cyclone of hurricane strength has made landfall over the northern #Mozambique province of Cabo Delgado in the modern record (50 years). Intense Cyclone #Kenneth expected to make landfall here later today. pic.twitter.com/3UkQhDXBAv
— Met Office Storms (@metofficestorms) April 25, 2019
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Tropical Storm #Kenneth is on track to become the first hurricane-strength storm (in the modern record) to make landfall over Mozambique's Cabo Delgado Province. #NOAA20 saw the powerful, now Cat. 4 storm, as it passed by the island of Comoros Wednesday. https://t.co/Hw2LyL7Xsw pic.twitter.com/cQftn3Litu
— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) April 25, 2019
It is FALSE that cyclone Kenneth will hit the Kenyan Coast. By the laws of physics, Cyclones cannot come this close to the equator. Landfall will be northern Mozambique as shown in the satellite image. pic.twitter.com/xuYRgfbDCA
— Kenya Met Department (@MeteoKenya) April 25, 2019
Though there's little evidence that the planet is experiencing more cyclones and hurricanes, there is mounting evidence that these storms are growing stronger compared to storms in the 20th century.
Prior to Cyclone Idai, since the 1960s only three tropical storms of category 3 or stronger had hit Mozambique, according to Weather.com.
In Mozambique alone, Idai killed over 600 people, according to the latest UN data. Meanwhile, the March cyclone displaced over 131,000 people in the southern African nation.
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