Tropical cyclone IAN became the first tropical cyclone of the 2013-2014 South Pacific season when it formed yesterday north of Tonga. The TRMM satellite passed above IAN this morning at 1133 UTC. IAN is a small tropical cyclone but TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) instrument found that IAN was dropping rain at a rate of over 113 mm/hr (~4.4 inches) in some areas. Since it was launched on November 27, 1997 TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) has been providing 3-D vertical profiles of rain and snow from the surface up to a height of about 12 miles (20 kilometers). A 3-D view of IAN's vertical

Bejisa's eye passed very close to the West of the French island of Reunion yesterday when maximum sustained winds were estimated to be 105 kts (~121 mph). Bejisa spawned wave heights of 8 meters (~26 feet), caused several serious injuries and extensive power outages. The TRMM satellite had a daytime view of Bejisa today at 1348 UTC after the tropical cyclone's sustained wind speeds had decreased to less than 60kts (~69 mph). Bejisa's past positions are shown overlaid in red on a rainfall analysis made from TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data collected with this pass

Extremely powerful tropical cyclone Bejisa has passed just to the west of the French island of Reunion in the southwest Indian Ocean. Bejisa's forward speed and very powerful winds within the tropical cyclone made this a dangerous location for Reunion. Bejisa was moving toward Reunion when the TRMM satellite had an excellent view on January 1, 2014 at 2212 UTC. Bejisa had sustained winds estimated to be over 105kts (~121 mph) at the time of this pass making it equivalent to a category three hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. A rainfall analysis that used data from TRMM's

The TRMM satellite had an excellent view of intensifying tropical cyclone Bejisa northeast of Madagascar on December 31, 2013 at 0004 UTC. As expected, Bejisa became more powerful and had maximum sustained wind speeds estimated at 105 kts (~121 mph) when TRMM flew over. A rainfall analysis from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) instruments is shown overlaid on an enhanced infrared image from the Visible and InfraRed Scanner (VIRS). Extremely heavy rainfall in Bejisa's eye wall returned reflectivity values greater than 55dBZ to the Precipitation Radar (PR) instrument