Extreme Weather News

As expected, tropical cyclone KENI followed a track similar to tropical cyclone JOSIE and passed to the southwest of Fiji's main island of Viti Levu on April 10, 2018 (UTC). No casualties were reported with KENI even though it was a more powerful tropical cyclone than JOSIE. KENI was still intensifying when it passed directly over the island of Kadavu located just south of Viti Levu. Flash flooding was reported on Viti Levu and Kadavu. Maximum sustained winds of greater than 70 kts (81 mph) were responsible for widespread damage caused by the direct hit to Kadavu. KENI's peak winds of 85 kts

Another tropical cyclone called KENI has formed in the South Pacific Ocean between Vanuatu and Fiji. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued it's first warning for tropical cyclone KENI on April 8, 2018 at 2100Z. Tropical cyclone KENI is following a track similar to tropical cyclone JOSIE that recently caused deadly flooding in Fiji. The GPM core observatory satellite passed above tropical cyclone KENI on April 9, 2018 at 1109Z. This analysis of rainfall around tropical cyclone KENI was accomplished using data collected by GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual Frequency Precipitation

The GPM core observatory satellite again passed over the center of tropical cyclone IRIS on April 6, 2018 at 0027 UTC (10:27 AM AEST). The location of IRIS' low level center of circulation is shown here with a red tropical storm symbol. Data collected by GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) revealed that heavy convective rainfall was sheared to the southeast of IRIS' surface center of circulation. Those GMI data showed that precipitation in that area of strong convection was falling at a rate greater than 59 mm (2.3 inches) per hour while data received by GPM's Dual Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR)

IRIS has taken a long, fluctuating and serpentine trek since the tropical cyclone formed in the Coral Sea northeast of Australia on March 24. For a while IRIS weakened and was downgraded to a tropical low. The tropical low moved toward the northeastern coast of Australia and was upgraded again to tropical cyclone IRIS on April 2. The tropical cyclone has then moved generally southeastward parallel to the Australian coast. This analysis from data collected by Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments shows that extremely heavy rain was falling west of IRIS'

Tropical cyclone Josie didn't make landfall in Fiji but it's heavy rainfall resulted in deadly flooding. Approximate locations of tropical cyclone Josie, as it moved close to Fiji, are shown overlaid in white. Josie's clockwise circulation streamed moisture over Fiji causing flooding that led to the deaths of at least four people. This rainfall accumulation analysis used Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) data. Those data are generated by NASA's Precipitation Processing System every half hour within about 6 hours from when data are acquired. IMERG data are acquired from the