Tropical Cyclone Sandra (19P) Tracking Eastward
20.8S 154.6E
Tropical Cyclone Sandra (19P) – March 7th, 2013
Enhanced image
Track of TC 19P
Tropical Cyclone Sandra (19P), located approximately 645 nm northwest of Noumea, New Caledonia, has tracked eastward at 06 knots over the past six hours. Maximum significant wave height is 20 feet.
Animated infrared satellite imagery shows deepened central convection over a well-defined low-level circulation center. The initial position is extrapolated from an eye feature on an SSMIS 37ghz image. The initial intensity is slightly higher than the Dvorak estimates from PGTW and KNES to account for the developing eye in the SSMIS microwave image.
Upper-level analysis indicates the system is west of an anticyclone in an area of light to moderate (10-20 knot) easterly vertical wind shear (VWS). Animated water vapor imagery shows ample equatorward outflow with enhanced eastward outflow into deep troughing near the dateline. Additionally, there is slight poleward enhancement to the outflow provided by an upper-level low over eastern Australia.
