NASA catches Tropical Cyclone Solo dissipating

Tropical Cyclone Solo was dissipating over the Southwestern Pacific Ocean when NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead on April 13, 2015.

On April 11 Tropical Cyclone Solo spawned warnings in New Caledonia as it passed by. By April 12, the warnings were dropped and wind shear had taken its toll on the storm weakening it.

On April 12 at 0300 UTC (April 11 at 11 p.m. EDT), the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued their final bulletin on Solo. At that time it was 116 nautical miles north of Noumea, New Caledonia near 20.2 south latitude and 165.7 east longitude. Solo had maximum sustained winds near 35 knots (40 mph/64 kph) and weakening. Solo was moving to the east-southeast at 18 knots (20.7 mph/33.3 kph).

As Solo continued in an east-southeasterly direction and passed New Caledonia, strong vertical wind shear weakened the storm to a remnant low pressure area. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Solo's remnants on April 13 and the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument aboard captured a visible-light image of it. The MODIS image revealed that the remnants had become an elongated system with the bulk of clouds pushed southeast of the barely discernable center. Solo continued to dissipate under the strong vertical wind shear.