Cyclone Fani from Space: Satellite images show fearsome wrath of the severe storm

Cyclone Fani was the strongest tropical cyclone to have hit Odisha since cyclone Phailin in 2013. The storm's fearsome power was caught in action by a network of weather satellites in space that had a keen eye on the storm as it made its landfall on 3 May over the Eastern coast of India.Fani was a Category 4 tropical cyclone (a.k.a a Category 4 hurricane), with wind speeds of over 200 kilometres per hour at its peak.Also check out: Anatomy of Cyclone Fani in maps — climatic factors that caused tropical storm Fani to grow quickly in intensityAs Fani formed and graduated in its intensity, weather satellites like the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-20 (NOAA-20), the Japenese Himawari 8, NASA's Aqua satellite and the NOAA's Suomi NPP satellites were all pointed to the storm to observe its progression, Space.com reported.[caption id="attachment_6583761" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]

Cyclone Fani as seen by the Japanese Himawari 8 satellite. Image: Twitter/Hiren Jethva[/caption]

Fani developed into a Cat 4 cyclone from a pocket of air that meteorologists have first located roughly a week before it escalated. This was enough time, according to the report, for the government to put together a plan of action, notify residents in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and other states in the impact zone to evacuate. While there were 34 deaths attributed to cyclone Fani, these were considerably fewer than the 20,000 lives lost in the last catastrophic storm to hit the East coast 20 years ago.Fani has now weakened considerably and will continue to lose intensity as it moves further Northeast and eventually loses momentum inland.