Forecasters are watching a low pressure area located off the
east coast of Madagascar that appears ripe for development in the
Southern Indian Ocean. If it becomes a tropical storm, it would be
named Hubert.
On March 9 the low, currently named "90S" is located near 20.1
South latitude and 50.8 East longitude is approximately 225
nautical miles east-southeast of the capital city of Antananarivo
(which is located 145 miles inland from the east coast). The low's
winds are estimated to be between 28- 34 mph (25 to 30 knots). The
system is moving south-southeastward at 5 mph (4 knots). Minimum
sea level pressure is estimated to be near 1000 millibars.
Forecasters at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted that
"Formation of a significant tropical cyclone is possible within the
next 12 to 24 hours." There are a couple of factors helping this
low become tropically organized: warm waters and improved banding
of thunderstorms around the storm (indicating circulation and good
convection, rapidly rising air that creates thunderstorms).
Animated multispectral satellite imagery shows improved
organization with curved convective banding around a low level
circulation center. Another satellite showed a tightly wrapped low
level center of circulation.
NASA's Aqua satellite flew over 90S on March 8 at 5:23 a.m. ET
and captured an infrared image from the Atmospheric Infrared
Sounder (AIRS) instrument. AIRS infrared instrument measures cloud
top and sea surface temperatures and showed that bands of
convective thunderstorms are wrapping around 90S's low-level
center.
Forecasters believe that the low known as "90S" has a good
chance of growing up to become "Hubert."
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