Cyclone Tauktae is now onshore over the Indian State of Gujarat India. The storm has weakened since these photos were taken by @NASA Modis this morning, but is still packing 150kmh winds & has done a lot of damage.
Today's satellite presentation of the area has a new feature which has been strengthening over the past few days. A stream of water vapour out of Central Africa & Sudan transiting Chad and Sudan and then the Red Sea near Jeddah.
There is also an increasing amount of activity in the Western Sahara which supports the CMC and KMA model predictions of significant rainfall in these areas in recent forecasts.
May 18th North Africa 10-day accumulated rainfall forecasts. As usual the KMA and CMC models are far more bullish on #DesertRain and the quantities of Sahara rain is astonishing. These areas of desert are usually lucky to get 10mm of rain in a year.
Here's a view of the #HornOfAfrica as the sun went down today. The heavy rains in Sudan are continuing and convection of a more normal scale (compared to that which birthed Tauktae) is restarting off the coast of Somalia.
The pattern of rainfall in terms of location as seen in the satellite imagery today looks as if it will hold with rain mostly in the East and South of Ethiopia. We do see some rain returning to Somalia also. But South Sudan seems to be getting the most.
The forecasts above are for 10-days of rain. These ones are for the next three days till midnight Friday.
So what next for the wider region. The latest GFS and ECMWF models both now have a tropical low system in the Bay of Bengal turning into a depression, and possibly a storm, towards the end of May. Here is the latest GFS model run.
As for the anticipated rain in central Asia including #Kazakhstan#Mongolia, that is still in the forecasts. But the rain in northern Tibet has diminished.
The eyes of the world are turned towards the Holy Land on the 10th day of a horrific conflict between the Govt. of Benjamin Netanyahu and the Hamas Govt. in Gaza.
This image shows a larger picture of the region, from Cairo to Kampala the full Nile Basin. Source: @NASA Modis.
The 10-day forecasts for North Africa are showing increasing amounts of rain over the Western end of the Sahara Desert. The exception being the @ECMWF model which maintains its disbelief in the concept of #DesertRain.
This is why I pray Hamas holds their fire tonight. A unilateral unannounced ceasefire is the best path to a victory, to delivering a lasting peace and forcing Israel into meaningful negotiations to reduce the suffering of the people of Gaza.
The thread concludes (after I had a close look) that actually yesterday the dam broke on the #GazaUnderAttack story on US Cable TV yesterday, most shows covered it, many mentioning the bombing of the @APNews / @AlJazeera building....
Some of the components deserve additional commentary. The ever affable @johndickerson's interview with Netanyahu was I think almost accidentally brilliant, as it provided Bibi with an opportunity to hang himself in his own delusion, it was very Trump.
The time has come for @CNN@MSNBC and @FoxNews to stop hiding and start telling the story of what is happening in Israel-Palestine in a manner that is consistent with professional journalistic norms.