Chalane makes second landfall in Mozambique after first striking Madagascar

After forging a path toward Madagascar last week and Mozambique this week, Chalane has become the first land-falling cyclone of the season in the southern Indian Ocean.

Chalane tracked across the island of Madagascar over the weekend as a tropical depression, bringing areas of heavy rain and gusty winds to the region.

On Monday, Chalane emerged over the Mozambique Channel and into an environment conducive for tropical development. Warm waters and a lack of vertical wind shear allowed the storm to strengthen into a severe tropical storm by Monday night, local time.

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On Wednesday morning, Chalane made another landfall near Beira, Mozambique, as a severe tropical storm.

A severe tropical storm on the scale used by Meteo France is equivalent to a strong tropical storm or weak Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

The main threat from Chalane across Mozambique will be heavy rainfall, stated AccuWeather Lead International Meteorologist Jason Nicholls. However, the storm will be moving at a decent pace, so widespread rainfall totals are forecast to be around 50-100 mm (2-4 inches).

These rainfall totals will be expected over central Mozambique and into Zimbabwe with the highest totals following the center of the storm though Thursday. An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 200 mm (8 inches) will be possible here.

Even as what is left of Chalane crossed Botswana and Namibia, isolated instances of flooding will remain possible.

Locally damaging winds are also expected across central Mozambique and east-central Zimbabwe as Chalane forges a path inland. The strongest winds will occur near the coast where the storm makes landfall on Wednesday morning, local time.

"Wind gusts of 129-145 km/h (80-90 mph) with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 161 km/h (100 mph) are possible nearest landfall," added Nicholls.

As the storm came inland, a wind gust to 95 km/h (59 mph) was reported in Beira.

Wind damage and power outages are likely near the coast due to strong wind gusts. As Chalane moves inland, the threat for damaging winds will wane.

Flash flooding will be possible from near landfall and inland into central Zimbabwe along the storm's track, even after it weakens below tropical storm intensity.

Chalane is also expected to impact portions of Mozambique and Zimbabwe still struggling to recover from Intense Tropical Cyclone Idai back in mid- to late March of 2019.

On Tuesday, officials in Zimbabwe began evacuating people from Chimanimani, a town greatly impacted by Idai. According to local sources, residents still living in tents were given the highest priority.

Chalane is a 1 on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Tropical Cyclones as heavy rain and gusty winds expected from the storm will be impacting a vulnerable area. The scale was created by the company in 2019 to offer a more comprehensive outlook for tropical cyclone impacts than the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

While the heaviest rain from Chalane is forecast to come to an end on Thursday, areas of showers and thunderstorms will be in the area as residents in Mozambique and Zimbabwe begin recovery efforts.

This tropical system is the third named tropical system of the season for the South-West Indian Ocean basin and is the first of the season to make landfall in the basin.

The 2020 South-West Indian Ocean basin cyclone season officially began on 15 Nov. and will end on 30 April 2021. There have been two named tropical systems so far this season: Tropical Cyclone Alicia and Severe Tropical Storm Bongoyo. Alicia churned in the basin from 12 Nov. to 17 Nov., while Bongoyo was in the basin from 30 Nov. to 11 Dec. Both systems remained over the open waters of the Indian Ocean during their respective lifetimes.

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