Tropical Cyclone Giovanna On February 13, 2012, Tropical Cyclone
Giovanna was located about 250 nautical miles (465 kilometers)
east of Antananarivo, Madagascar. The U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon
Warning Center (JTWC) reported that the cyclone had maximum
sustained winds of 125 knots (230 kilometers per hour) and gusts
up to 150 knots (280 kilometers per hour). Giovanna’s clouds
stretch from Mauritius and Réunion in the east to the coast of
Madagascar in the west. The Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured
this natural-color scene on February 13, 2012. The storm’s
central eye roughly matches the size of the island of Réunion,
and the whole storm spans hundreds of kilometers. The JTWC
forecast that Giovanna would continue moving west, weakening
after making landfall on Madagascar, but regaining strength over
the Mozambique Channel. The JTWC anticipated that Giovanna would
ultimately come ashore in Mozambique and dissipate after that
landfall. - Joint Typhoon Warnin