April 18, 2023 - Tropical Cyclone Ilsa

Ilsa
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Around midnight local time on April 13, 2023, Tropical Cyclone Ilsa
made landfall in Western Australia. Bearing winds that gusted to 298
kilometers (185 miles) per hour, it was one of the most potent storms
to hit the area in recent years.

Earlier that day, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of
the fierce cyclone approaching the Western Australia coast. Near the
time this image was captured, Ilsa was approaching the coast with
sustained winds of 240 kilometers (150 miles) per hour. That equates to
a Category 5 storm on Australia’s intensity scale, which is equivalent
to a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.
Although the storm’s center had not yet reached the coast, its outer
cloud bands were already interacting with land.

According to Western Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, winds were
especially fierce at Bedout Island (obscured in this image by clouds).
Ground-based instruments measured sustained wind speeds of 218
kilometers (135 miles) per hour there—topping the previous record
measured of 194 kilometers per hour measured at the island during
Cyclone George in 2007.

The storm crossed the coast about 120 kilometers east-northeast of Port
Hedland, maintaining Category 5 status on the Australian scale. By late
on April 14, Ilsa’s windspeeds had decreased to near 80.5 km/h (50
mph), bringing it to Category 1 on the Australian scale. The storm
brought damaging winds and torrential rain across a large swath of
Western Australia. Fortunately, major cities, such as Port Hedland,
were spared a direct hit and damage appears to be relatively mild.

The strongest winds appeared to have crossed over more remote
territory. Photos of severe damage to buildings and a tractor-trailer
overturned have circulated on social media, as well as photos of
near-total destruction of the Pardoo Roadhouse, a remote restaurant and
gas station near Port Hedland. The cyclone passed directly over Pardoo
Station, a cattle ranching operation, leaving only two buildings intact
at the main location.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 4/13/2023
Resolutions: 1km (2.2 MB), 500m (6.2 MB), 250m (4.6 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-04-18

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