02.13.11

Tropical Cyclone Bingiza Nears Madagascar

Posted in Non-US Weather, Tropical Weather, Weather News at 8:00 am by Rebekah

Tropical Cyclone Bingiza, with 10-minute average sustained winds of 90 mph and a minimum pressure of 963 mb (equivalent of a Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale), is slowly inching its way towards northeastern Madagascar. The tropical cyclone is currently moving west-southwest at 3 mph.

Forecast track of Tropical Cyclone Bingiza, from Weather Underground

The cyclone is expected to make landfall at about this intensity late Monday morning local time (Sunday night U.S. time).

Tropical Cyclone Bingiza, from UW-CIMSS

It appears that the cyclone’s eye will make landfall near the farming towns of Manambolosy (~11,000 people), Mananara Nord (~30,000), and Soanierana Ivongo (~22,000), as well as affect a tiny, offshore island called Île Sainte-Marie (~17,000).

Madagascar is no stranger to tropical cyclones. The southwest Indian Ocean’s most intense cyclone in recorded history struck this same part of Madagascar in March 2004, causing devastating damage. Cyclone Gafilo was the equivalent of a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, with a minimum central pressure of 895 mb and 10-minute sustained winds of 145 mph (1-minute sustained winds of 160 mph).

To see more on different tropical cyclone rating systems in different ocean basins, see another blog post I wrote, “Tropical Cyclone Ului Makes Landfall in Australia“.

To see a recent blog post I wrote on the weather and climate of the nearby capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo, check out “World Wide Weather #25: Antananarivo, Madagascar“.

Bingiza is the fifth tropical disturbance and the second named storm of the Southwest Indian Ocean tropical cyclone season, which begun on November 15th and will run until April 30th.

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