NASA MODIS Image of the Day: January 13, 2012 – Tropical Cyclone 06S (Heidi (06S) over Western Australia
Tropical Cyclone Heidi made landfall in Western Australia’s Pilbara region about 4:30 a.
m.
local time on January 12, 2012 as a Category 2 cyclone, bringing wind gusts up to 131 kilometers/hour (81 miles/hour) and dumping 128 mm of rain on Port Headland, a coastal town in the path of the storm. A few hours later, local papers reported widespread flooding and power outages to at least 2,000 homes in that area. Heidi was downgraded to a Category 1 cyclone about 9:30 a.m. local time (Western Standard Time) as it moved south-southwest away from the coast. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over Heidi on January 12 at 06:00 UTC (1 p.m. WST) and captured this true-color image. At this time, Heidi had maintained her well-rounded shape and even appeared to hint at an eye in the center after moving inland, suggesting that the storm still was fairly strong and still a significant rain-maker. By early morning of January 13, Tropical Cyclone Heidi had become a tropical low, but still packed significant wind and heavy rain, bringing the potential for flash flooding as it travels south.
