As if we needed any more evidence as to how Global Warming is adversely affecting our planet, we now have the strange and disturbing saga of Tropical Cyclone Freddy in the Indian Ocean:
WP, CNN, TWC
Born clear back on February 6 off the northwestern coast of Australia, Freddy is about to become the longest-lived tropical cyclone ever recorded, as well as one of the most powerful. Even more remarkably, no other southern hemisphere cyclone has ever undergone more than three separate periods of rapid intensification (defined as an increase in wind speed of at least 35mph in 24 hours) during its lifespan, and only three northern hemisphere cyclones have undergone four such bouts.
Freddy is now on its 6th period of rapid intensification as it prepares to hit Mozambique for a second time, after having already travelled across the entire South Indian Ocean (at a category 4-5 strength for much of that time, with a peak sustained wind speed of 165mph on Feb 18-19) to strike both Madagascar and Mozambique, and then reversing course to impact Madagascar again. Freddy has also far surpassed any other southern hemisphere cyclone in terms of Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE), which is a measure of the total energy a storm extracts from warm ocean waters during its lifespan, and now stands second only to Ioke’s 85 ACE units racked up in 2003. And if Freddy manages to stall out over the Mozambique Channel for a few more days, it could even eclipse Ioke’s ultimate record.