Deadly Funso Maintains Category 4 Hurricane Strength
Powerful Tropical Cyclone Funso was captured in this satellite image from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center overnight Tuesday.
Tropical Cyclone Funso remains extremely dangerous with the strength of a Category 4 hurricane as it churns off the coast of southern Africa.
Funso has maintained powerful Category 4 hurricane intensity (winds in excess of 130 mph) since Monday and will continue to do so into Thursday morning.
The warm waters of the Mozambique Channel, which lies in between southern mainland Africa and Madagascar, continues to fuel Funso's intense strength.
If Funso (labeled as a tropical cyclone in this part of the world) were to strike land, lives and property would be in severe peril.
The good news is that Funso will not deviate significantly off its southward track into Thursday, meaning the worst of its devastating winds and flooding rain will remain over the open waters of the Mozambique Channel.
The outer rain bands of Funso will occasionally continue to graze the western coast of Madagascar and the southeastern shores of the African nation of Mozambique.
Extremely dangerous surf will also pound both coastlines.
Conditions will improve throughout the Mozambique Channel later Friday into this weekend as Funso pushes away from Africa and into the open waters of the southern Indian Ocean.
The departure of Funso will mark the end of two dire weeks in terms of tropical weather for Mozambique.
Funso slammed the nation's north-central provinces, particularly Zambezia, last Friday into Monday with high winds, torrential rain and pounding waves, according to AccuWeather.com International Expert Meteorologist Jim Andrews.
Prior to Funso's arrival, Tropical Depression Dando landed with flooding rain and damaging winds near the country's capital of Maputo early last week.
The AFP reports that the two tropical systems have claimed at least 25 people in Mozambique.
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|---|---|---|
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| Precip | 2.56" | Stampede Pass, WA |
WeatherWhys®
Avalanches are caused by a number of factors. Thick layers of snow and ice of varying intensity along a mountainside are weakened by the force of gravity and changing weather conditions. At some point, this large mass of snow is released down the mountain in a form of an avalanche.
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