Category 4 Favio Africa-bound

We here in the U.S. may not be thinking much about tropical activity in February, but the
tropics are certainly active in other parts of the world. Cyclone Favio, once a Category 4
storm, is about to strike the coast of mainland Africa.

The image below, taken by NASA’s Terra satellite, shows Favio as it continues to close the
gap on its westward trek toward the coast of Mozambique.

Favio’s outermost bands (on the western side of the storm) were already brushing the coast
of southern Mozambique’s Inhambane province, while a thick ring of clouds can be seen
surrounding the eye of the storm.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast issued at 12:00 UTC February 21st indicated
that Favio had sustained wind speeds of about 115 miles per hour, with gusts to around
144 m.p.h. While Favio was expected to weaken some before making landfall within
24 hours, its impact was still expected to be severe. Mozambique is already water-logged
from heavy recent rains that caused flooding, forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate,
according to relief agencies.

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