Tropical Cyclone Ambali on Thursday morning as a tropical storm, left, and 24 hours later on Friday morning as a Category 5-equivalent cyclone, right. (CIRA/RAMMB/EUMetSat)
By Matthew Cappucci and
Andrew Freedman
On Thursday morning, Tropical Cyclone Ambali was named in the Indian Ocean, with an intensity equivalent to a tropical storm. By Friday morning local time, it had transformed into a borderline Category 5 behemoth. The cyclone’s extremely rapid intensification rate is likely to beat out anything ever observed in the Southern Hemisphere, where satellites monitor such storms, while claiming the second-place spot globally for a storm’s 24-hour strengthening rate.
It’s part of an ominous trend of recent storms that bears a strong climate connection, according to scientific studies.
Fortunately, the storm hit its apex far from land, and it is forecast to continue to roam across the open ocean while weakening. Cyclone Ambali weakened significantly overnight and is now equivalent to a Category 2 storm. It’s forecast to drift harmlessly over the Arabian Sea, passing well east of Madagascar and staying north of Mauritius.