JOHANNESBURG, March 14 (Portal) – Tropical cyclone Freddy struck the coast of southern Africa for the second time over the weekend, killing more than 220 people in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar.
The month-long storm broke at least one record and could break two more, forecasters say.
As climate change leads to warmer oceans, the thermal energy of the water’s surface makes for stronger storms.
Below are some of the main reasons Freddy is remarkable.
HIGHEST CYCLONE ENERGY
Freddy holds the record for most accumulated cyclone energy (ACE), a measure based on a storm’s wind strength over its lifetime, of any storm in the southern hemisphere and possibly the world.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, Freddy generated about as much cyclone energy as an average full North Atlantic hurricane season.
Last week it was in second place for the most accumulated cyclone energy of any storm since 1980, holding the record held by Hurricane and Typhoon Ioke in 2006.
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Some estimates show that Freddy has since broken that record, with 86 ACE compared to Ioke’s 85 ACE.
RECORDING LENGTH
According to the World Meteorological Organization, Freddy may have broken the record for the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record.
[1/4] Branches from trees sway as Cyclone Freddy hits Quelimane, Zambezia, Mozambique March 12, 2023 in this screenshot from a handout video. UNICEF MOZAMBIQUE/2023/Alfredo Zuniga/Handout via Portal
The current record is held by a 31-day hurricane in 1994.
Freddy first evolved on February 6 and made a second landfall on the coast of Mozambique on March 11, 34 days later.
But experts still need to consider several factors, such as the fact that it has weakened below tropical cyclone status in some places during that time, to determine whether it broke the record, the World Meteorological Organization said.
MOST INTENSIFICATION CYCLES
Freddy appears to have broken the world record for most bouts of rapid intensification, defined as a 35 mph increase in wind speed in a 24-hour period.
According to satellite estimates, Freddy had seven separate cycles of rapid intensification, the World Meteorological Organization said. The previous record was four, matched by multiple hurricanes.
The World Meteorological Organization will set up an expert committee to examine these records as well as the others, it said.
UNUSUAL WAY
Freddy evolved off the coast of Australia, crossing the entire South Indian Ocean and traveling more than 8,000 km (4,970 miles) to end up in Madagascar and Mozambique in late February.
It then returned, hitting the coast of Mozambique again two weeks later before moving inland to Malawi.
“No other tropical cyclone observed in this part of the world has taken such a path across the Indian Ocean in the last two decades,” the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in an article.
Only four storms have crossed the southern Indian Ocean from east to west, the last in 2000, it said.
Reporting by Nellie Peyton Edited by Alexander Winning and Angus MacSwan
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