NASA's Terra satellite sees Tropical Cyclone Glenda stretching out

NASA's Terra satellite revealed that Tropical Cyclone Glenda was being stretched out by wind shear on Feb. 27.

When Terra passed over the Southern Indian Ocean on Feb. 27, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument captured a visible image of the storm. In the image, the bulk of clouds associated with the storm appeared to be pushed southeast of the center and away from the islands of Mauritius and La Reunion.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) noted today, Feb. 27, "animated multispectral satellite imagery shows the system has begun to show signs of elongation as the main convective bands are displaced eastward of a partially-exposed low-level circulation center."

At 0900 UTC (4 a.m. EST), Glenda's maximum sustained winds had dropped to near 45 knots (51.7 mph/83.3 kph). Glenda was centered near 22.4 south latitude and 67.2 east longitude, about 573 nautical miles (659.4 miles/1,061 km) east-southeast of Port Louis, Mauritius. Glenda was moving to the south at 7 knots (8 mph/12.9 kph).

JTWC reported in their upper-level atmosphere analysis that Glenda is located in a "marginal environment with moderate vertical wind shear offset by excellent poleward outflow."

By Saturday, Feb. 28, Glenda is expected to transition to an extra-tropical storm and become a cold-core system.