Cyclone Batsirai no longer expected to hit Mozambique – AIM report

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Cyclone Batsirai no longer expected to hit Mozambique – AIM report

7:47 CAT | 07 Feb 2022

Image: Twitter / @ZIM_CAST

Tropical cyclone Batsirai, which is currently [February 6] over eastern Madagascar will enter the Mozambique Channel on Sunday, but is no longer expected to make landfall on the Mozambican coast.

After causing significant damage in Mauritius, the cyclone hit Madagascar, making landfall just north of the town of Mananjary. According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) of the US navy, as it crossed Madagascar, its wind speed fell from 60 to 40 knots (from 74 to 111 kilometres an hour).

The storm destroyed homes, felled trees and knocked out power supplies. Initial reports from the Madagascar authorities were that 27,000 people had been displaced from their homes. Localised flooding was expected.

As Batsirai tracks into the Mozambique Channel, its speed is expected to rise to 50 knots. But its direction has changed, and it is no longer on the westerly course that would bring it to the Mozambican coast.

Instead, the latest modelling of the cyclone’s course indicates that, as from Monday it will head southwards towards colder waters.

Waves of up to six metres high are expected in the Mozambique Channel, endangering shipping in the southern part of the channel.

The Mozambican National Meteorology Institute (INAM) forecasts that the classification of Batsirai will decline from cyclone to “moderate tropical storm”, with winds of up to 80 kilometres an hour,

But it seems unlikely that those winds will reach the coast, although the weather system can be expected to bring heavy rains to the southern province of Inhambane.

#Batsirai update 07/02/2022

Batsirai moved over the Mozambique channel at around 22:00 (CAT) on Sunday, as a moderate tropical storm. Batsirai will continue to track south/south-east, before dissipating over the next few days.

(METEO) (ZOOM) (ACCUWEATHER) (UCL) pic.twitter.com/SrI6rGbpZN

— ZIMCAST (@ZIM_CAST) February 7, 2022

#Batsirai is now a moderate TS over the SE #Mozambique Channel tracking WSW. A turn to the S is expected Monday; weather conditions will improve across #Madagascar over the next day or so. Batsirai will dissipate over open water later this week. pic.twitter.com/Pdd5nDJrjm

— Jason Nicholls (@jnmet) February 6, 2022