Tropical Cyclone Fakir strengthened rapidly northwest of La Reunion on Monday.\u00a0 At 5:00 p.m. EDT on Monday the center of Tropical Cyclone Fakir was located at latitude 18.2\u00b0S and longitude 54.5\u00b0E which put it about 220 miles (355 km) north-northwest of St. Denis, La Reunion.\u00a0 Fakir was moving toward the southeast at 22 m.p.h. (35 km\/h).\u00a0 The maximum sustained wind speed was 60 m.p.h. (95 km\/h) and there wind gusts to 75 m.p.h. (120 km\/h).\u00a0 The minimum surface pressure was 992 mb.<\/p>\n
A center of circulation developed early Monday in an area of thunderstorms east of Madagascar and the system was designated as Tropical Cyclone Fakir.\u00a0 The circulation organized quickly and in a few hours Fakir strengthened into the equivalent of a strong tropical storm.\u00a0 A primary rainband wrapped around the southern and western sides of the center of circulation.\u00a0 There were some indications of the potential development of an eye at the center.\u00a0 Additional bands of showers and thunderstorms developed south and east of the core of Tropical Cyclone Fakir.\u00a0 Storms in the core of Fakir generated strong upper level divergence which pumped away mass to the southeast of the circulation.\u00a0 The removal of mass allowed the surface pressure to decrease quickly and the winds to increase in response to that decrease.\u00a0 Winds to tropical storm force extended out about 100 miles (160 km) from the center of circulation.<\/p>\n
Tropical Cyclone Fakir could remain in an environment favorable for intensification for another 12 to 18 hours.\u00a0 Fakir will move over water where the Sea Surface Temperature is near 28\u00b0C.\u00a0 So, there is sufficient energy in the upper ocean to support intensification.\u00a0 Tropical Cyclone Fakir is moving around the southwestern portion of an upper level ridge located over the South Indian Ocean.\u00a0 The ridge is producing northwesterly winds which were blowing toward the top of the circulation.\u00a0 The winds were causing moderate vertical wind shear, but they were not strong enough to prevent Fakir from strengthening rapidly on Monday.\u00a0 Tropical Cyclone Fakir could become the equivalent of a hurricane\/typhoon during the next 12 to 18 hours.\u00a0 Fakir will move under stronger upper level winds in a day or so and then it will start to weaken because of the stronger vertical wind shear.<\/p>\n
The upper level ridge is steering Tropical Cyclone Fakir rapidly toward the southeast and that general motion is expected to continue for several more days.\u00a0 On its anticipated track Tropical Cyclone Fakir will approach Mauritius and La Reunion in about 12 hours.\u00a0 It could be nearly the equivalent of a hurricane\/typhoon at that time.\u00a0 Fakir will bring gusty winds and heavy rain to Mauritius and La Reunion.\u00a0 Minor wind damage is possible.\u00a0 Locally heavy rain could cause flash floods.\u00a0 The most likely track takes the center of Tropical Cyclone Fakir between Mauritius and La Reunion.\u00a0 The western side of the circulation is a little weaker than the eastern side is.\u00a0 If Fakir follows that track, then the strongest wind and heaviest rain could affect Mauritius.\u00a0 However, Fakir will also affect La Reunion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tropical Cyclone Fakir strengthened rapidly northwest of La Reunion on Monday.\u00a0 At 5:00 p.m. EDT on Monday the center of Tropical Cyclone Fakir was located at latitude 18.2\u00b0S and longitude 54.5\u00b0E which put it about 220 miles (355 km) north-northwest of St. Denis, La Reunion.\u00a0 Fakir was moving toward the southeast at 22 m.p.h. (35 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,2],"tags":[357,84,85,74,358,994],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5794"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5795,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5794\/revisions\/5795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jayhobgood.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}