Powerful Cyclone Jasmine Rakes South Pacific Island
The eye of Category 4 hurricane status Cyclone Jasmine narrowly misses Anatom, Vanuatu, in the South Pacific Ocean Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012 (Joint Typhoon Warning Center image)
Dangerous Tropical Cyclone Jasmine has raked a South Pacific Island with hurricane winds as it roared through the South Pacific Ocean on Wednesday.
Strong as a Category 4 hurricane, Jasmine clipped the island of Anatom, Vanuatu, where winds of at least 75 mph were clocked, data accessed by AccuWeather.com showed. At the time, Jasmine's eye was passing within about 40-50 miles to the southwest, satellite imagery indicated.
No report as to any casualties and damage was available.
Wednesday morning, EST, the eye of Jasmine was located about 60 miles south of Anatom, official forecasters in Fiji said. Packing highest sustained winds of nearly 135 mph, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), Jasmine was aiming towards the southeast at nearly 10 mph.
Meanwhile, other small islands of southern Vanuatu, among them Tanna and Erromango, were well within Jasmine's high winds and heavy rain, but were farther from the worst of the storm's fury.
Farther west, eastern islands of neighboring New Caledonia got a near miss from the severe storm as it swept along to the east and southeast.
Only two more tiny islands, Matthew and Hunter, were immediately threatened by Jasmine. The worse of Jasmine will pass these islands Wednesday night and early Thursday, EST.
More Weather News
-
What's Next for Beryl?
May 28, 2012; 12:25 PM ET
Beryl, with its drenching downpours and locally severe thunderstorms is expected to turn to the northeast, paralleling the Carolina coast during the middle of the week.
-
Memorial Day Storms Albany to Boston
May 28, 2012; 12:09 PM ET
Locally strong thunderstorms will roll across upstate New York and through part of New England into this evening.
-
"Mothership Cloud" Supercell Tornado In Texas
May 28, 2012; 12:07 PM ET
Storm chasers spotted the storm on May 21.
-
Photos: After-Effects of Tropical Storm Beryl
May 28, 2012; 12:00 PM ET
"Beryl, shmeryl..." No serious damage has been reported.
-
Severe Flooding in Northwestern Ontario
May 28, 2012; 10:49 AM ET
A state of emergency has been declared in the Thunder Bay area after severe flooding struck parts of Ontario's Lake Superior region.
-
Watching the Caribbean in the Wake of Beryl
May 28, 2012; 9:30 AM ET
The same general area of disturbed weather in the Caribbean that seeded Beryl, could attempt yet another tropical system this week.
-
Severe Storms to Slam Chicago, St. Louis, Springfield
May 28, 2012; 9:22 AM ET
Damaging thunderstorms will ignite from Chicago to St. Louis to Springfield later this afternoon and evening.
-
Memorial Day Weather for "Founding" Towns
May 28, 2012; 9:01 AM ET
Officially, Waterloo, N.Y., is the birthplace of Memorial Day, however, many towns in the U.S. claim the honor of being the first.
-
Atlantic Hurricane Forecast: Storms Close to the Coast
May 28, 2012; 7:32 AM ET
AccuWeather's 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season forecasts 12 named tropical storms, five named hurricanes and two major hurricanes.
-
Beryl's Impacts on the Southeast
May 28, 2012; 5:25 AM ET
As Beryl moves into the Southeast, its impacts will be widespread. However, not all news will be bad.
Daily U.S. Extremes
past 24 hours
| Extreme | Location | |
|---|---|---|
| High | 100° | Smyrna, TN |
| Low | 15° | Sunset Crater, AZ |
| Precip | 3.99" | Wadena, MN |
WeatherWhys®
Hail is much more common during the months of May and June compared to July and August. The main reason is the fact that the freezing level is usually higher during July and August as pockets of cold air in the upper atmosphere are less common as the jet stream weakens and retreats farther north.
This Day In Weather History
Leesburg, Va. (1982)
In Leesburg, a suburb of Washington, D.C., 2.20 inches of rain fell in 15 minutes.
Leesburg, Fla. (1989)
A lightning bolt tore a 4-foot-wide hole in the ceiling of a residential dining room and struck a 9-year-old boy between the shoulder blades. Although injured, the boy survived.
Rough Weather
Comments
Comments left here should adhere to the AccuWeather.com Community Guidelines. Profanity, personal attacks, and spam will not be tolerated.