Tropical Storm Phanfone brought typhoon-force winds and heavy rains across sections of the Philippines on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Phanfone is known as Ursula in the Philippines. Now the storm has moved into the South China Sea and NASA’s Terra satellite captured a true-color image of the tropical cyclone.

Phanfone’s maximum sustained winds peaked near 95 knots (109.3 mph/176 km/h) on December 25 at 4 a.m. EST (0900 UTC) as it passed through the Philippine archipelago. On December 26, 2019, the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of Phanfone that showed the storm maintained its circular shape after crossing the Philippines. A rounded shape of a tropical cyclone indicates an organized storm. The MODIS image revealed bands of thunderstorms spiraled into the low-level center of circulation.

On December 27, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted that Tropical Cyclone Phanfone was located near latitude 14.9 north and longitude 115.8 degrees east, or about 439 nautical miles (505.2 mi/813 km) east of Da Nang, Vietnam. It was tracking westward carrying maximum sustained winds of 45 knots (52 mph/83.7 km/h). Phanfone is forecast to weaken trend and move toward Hainan Island, China. After 36 hours, days, the storm is expected to dissipate over open water.

Image Facts

Satellite: Terra

Date Acquired: 12/26/2019

Resolutions: , ,

Bands Used: 1,4,3

Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC